Scene #8102: Perchance To Dream

Owner	Pose
Captain Hook	Entering the dreamlands isn't as easy as just closing your eyes and going to sleep. Not the way Captain Hook means to. There's rituals. Rules. Means of travel. Hook knows them all, purely out of exploration and effort, and, perhaps, a bit of his half-real time in Neverland, itself a dream of a dream. Hook has made something of a permanent exploratory base of the Dilapidated Lighthouse's surroundings. Like most good pirates he's aware that a place like this is somewhere people don't come, and like most good captains he's willing to play on superstition even if he himself doesn't believe in it. The party meets Hook at the edge of a long dock. The sun is going down in the distance, casting red light across the calm ocean. "Sailor's delight," Hook says idly, one hand in his pocket, one hand carrying a pair of roses. He tilts his head over his shoulder to look at the group and smiles. "Just in time. We'll be catching a Fancy to this nightmare. Hope you lot bundled up, hmm? Chilly, as high up as we'll be." When the shadows grow long across the pier, only the final rays of the sun peek over the horizon. Hook presses the roses to his lips and whistles twice through them. A man in loose-fitting sailor's clothes and a blindfold appears as darkness overtakes the pier. Hook holds out the roses. The man drops a small bag in his hand. Hook turns to the party as the man vanishes and twirls the bag around his hook. "Sand, of course. Have to catch the Fancy." Hook looks up at the rising moon. "Hm. Crescent. Well, take what we can get." He tosses some of the sand in the air. "Be ready to grab on and hang on for dear life. Don't want to fall in a dream if you're not the one dreaming it." The sand sparkles. The moon glimmers. The second star to the right shines just a little too bright, and Hook looks away from it with a very mild scowl and tosses some more sand in the air with just a touch of impatience. The clouds part. A huge bird comes soaring down towards the sand. Hook whistles at the group. "Grab on and don't let go, whatsoever you do!" He unhooks a Concord grappling hook, fires it at the bird, puts his hook-hand on his hat, and clearly readies himself. The bird - and the party - passes right through the sand, out of the Lighthouse, and into the mad delusion of the dreamlands.
Captain Hook	And mad delusion it is indeed. Floating islands hang above a patchwork of landscape and ocean that blend together in nonsensical ways. Here a flooded city. There the ocean is flowing upwards towards an island. Storms run up against pleasant showers divided only by what particular sort of land is beneath them. Trees blossom in every color of the rainbow and then some. Whole buildings the size of islands jut upwards from the ground with eerie, contaminated, dessicated appearance. The only commonality of it all is the Fancies - huge birds flying all over the place without rhyme or reasson. "Flights of Fancy! Idle daydreamers letting minds wander without focus who want to be anywhere but where they are!" Hook shouts over the wind, "Best way to travel the Dreamlands without a boat or faerie dust, and I've nary a boat nor any desire to ever touch that damned faerie dust again!" He hasn't reeled himself up onto the giant bird. Who knows how long it takes to arrive at their destination? Dreams are funny things. Passing through them is a surreal experience. But when they finally arrive, well... Probably better they hadn't. Hook drops himself off the Fancy and whistles for the others to do so at the edge of a massive edifice of towers and gothic construction. Vast buildings blot out the sky. Above hangs a bloody moon - quite literally dripping with the stuff. The blood from the moon bursts in air and turns to clouds, and the clouds rain a heavy red rain upon the cobblestone streets between the towers, and the rain turns to a bloody fog that nips at the feet of shadows wandering the narrow street. Hook actually pulls his coat on instead of letting it rest over his shoulders, buttons up, and taps his sword on his shoulder. "We're going to steal the crown jewels," he says, swinging the sword upwards towards the moon before he levels it slightly down towards the tallest building. A clock tower. "Everyone quite ready?"
Stanley Padgett	Well, if you had asked Stanley just a day before what he'd think about arcane fuckin' rituals to traverse the Multiverse, he'd be looking at you like you were bonkers. And then he wandered into Wonderland, killed the White Rabbit, and the man leading him into another slice of madness STOLE WONDERLAND. Okay, Sure. Stanley's on board now. Though he's looking a bit more stuffy than the last time that Hook saw him. He DID in fact come prepared, a flannel hoodie he got from Goodwill zipped up around his body, over the top of his school uniform and pants. He DID remember to wear shoes with good grip, and carry his sword. And his phone. His 'new' phone, that he likewise got from Goodwill. Cheap and expendable. "...Will I have to say this is..." Stanley looks up at the Blood Moon and the Tower, as he plants his hand on the pommel of his foil. "...I hate to use the language of where we just were, but this is curious."
Kale Hearthward	Start with some makeup. Not much, and applied lightly and simply - enough to be distinct and draw the eye, but not enough to make quick changes problematic in the future. Then the clothes - picked out with a view of form over function, but some of that function itself being a view, of sorts. Full movement and full vision in padded leather, but a vision of fullness in lace and ruffles (and 'padding' of a different sort, in places). And, of course, the hat to bring it all together. Then the attitude. Not... much has to change there, honestly. The difference between a conquistador and a pirate is who's backing the looting and what they're getting back in the loot, really. The voice - easy enough. He has the vocal training needed already, and this is a character he's played before. An evening with a microphone and his crew to give feedback is all it takes to get things back up to shipshape. And that's all it really takes. Whether the efforts will bear fruit, though, can only be seen by putting the new facade to the test... --- "Oi." Diomede puts a hand to her forehead, underneath her tricorne, peering out at the approaching Concord members. "This the lot? Sure puts the motley in motley crew." The albatross woman brings her hand back down from her forehead, and then adjusts her hat. "Name's Diomede. I'm here as some extra muscle, and in case the winds go awry. You lot don't get in my way, you don't diddle me out of my share, and we'll all be happy, savvy?" She leaps her way up onto the bird, getting more airtime than one would expect, and perches easily as the rest get on. She looks maybe a bit disorientated as the journey into the dreamlands progresses, but weathers it well, all told. "Right on into dreamlands, to steal the crown jewels... The stories don't half do you justice," she says. "Ready as the day I was hatched."
Cantio	When the meetup point is revealed to be a dock, Cantio's expecting some kind of seafaring adventure. Something with swashbuckling, swinging from the sails, maybe an impromptu dive in the ocean. That's why, when he mentions that it could be chilly outside, she's actually decently prepared with a thicker purple coat along with a diving suit on underneath that poofy jacket of hers. She's also got her Concord-emblazoned briefcase dangling from her fingers loosely, nearly forgotten as she watches the setting sun inthe distance. "I could get used to this..." She murmurs wistfully, only getting her attention back on the task at hand once an unidentified man appears and disappears as quickly as he came. "And sand will take us there? That's... Okay, I need to see this. Is that some kind of magic of yours, something innate to the sand itself, or... A ritual, perhaps?" She gets her phone and a stylus out, ready to take notes right away. When the warning is given, though, she wisely decides to stuff the stylus back into her phone and switch it to video-recording mode. She mistakes his warning to grab on as a warning to grab the edge of the dock in sheer confusion, and she does that before realizing he means the bird! "Wh... Wait, what was the point the dock, then?" Regardless of the mixup, Cantio eventually clambers onto the creature, huddling up against its back to minimize the wind-resistance hitting her and bracing herself for the flight. Weirdly enough, it's kind of hard to remember what happened between getting on the bird and getting off in front of the many towers. She's still in a bit of a daze while gawking at the hostile-looking architecture, but the freaky moon is what really holds her attention until Hook identifies their target. "Which... Crown? Er. Rather, which way is it?" She asks, snapping out of her daze and remembering to pull a plasticky-metallic purple sword out of the briefcase that doesn't look like it should have fit in there. "And... Yeah, I'm ready. Shall we, Captain?"
Timespace Riders	Have the Demon King and his retainer bundled up? More or less. Woz's heavy brown coat and space-folding scarf are mainstays. Sougo's brought along that navy peacoat of his. All too familiar with being stranded in a dream not of his own making, Sougo nods fervently. "Right! Um... hold onto what?" He has his answer, but is too busy ogling in disbelief at the large bird to seize upon it. Thankfully, his dutiful retainer, with a mildly interested smile, has him covered. There's a moment's hesitation before Woz take's Sougo's hand; a palpable pause wherein his eyes dart nervously. A flick of Woz's wrist sends his grey scarf billowing through the air to wrap around the base of the bird's talon. Steeling himself and taking Sougo by the hand, he is lifted up alongside his Demon King, much to the amazement of the latter. When a second Sougo briefly appears atop the bird's back to help the both of them onto a more comfortable riding arrangement, the retainer looks almost disappointed. Even if it's hard to say how long their journey lasts, it does come to an end. "So... this is a nightmare?" Sougo frowns as the air buffets him, blowing through his auburn hair. "I don't know what I thought one would look like... but somehow, it fits the bill." The two leap from the bird, following Hook's cue. In midair, each of them transforms, belt callouts drowned out by rushing wind. Zi-O dons the Fourze armor, a space shuttle-themed variation of his usual, while Woz's is the purple-accented Shinobi armor. The Demon King halts his ascent with boot-mounted thrusters, coming to a controlled landing while Woz gracefully sticks his own a few feet off. Red rain splashes upwards from pools with the landing of each. "Ready!" Zi-O gives an armored thumbs-up, and his body language betrays only a little timidity. "I, too, am ready--and I assure our newfound companion Diomede there shall be no 'diddling' of any sort from me."
Hiromi	Something of the proposal has coaxed Hiromi from her various and mysterious duties to join in this adventure, herself. There is, at most, only the vague implication of her most obvious motivations, and she is less than clear in explaining her particular interest. Her presence is clear, as it ever is. A realer-than-real wolf-woman near eight feet in height, more and less for the way she holds herself, heels raised yet forward leaning, like one always just about to leap, an ever-prepared hunter. Against her, it's easy to imagine any surroundings to be a dream, the way she pulls in and commands attention. But that's not the present concern -- except, perhaps, for Stanley. Being the one here least familiar by scent, he has the misfortune to receive the Archwolf's unnervingly close attention. A functional danger instinct (something for which teenagers with attitude are not well-known) would be screaming, here. But there's not much more time than for a "Who is?" from Hiromi before it's time to go. The ritual gets her attention, and she tracks the motions. "Roses for sand for flight, under moonlight. I will remember." When the bird arrives, she lowers herself, heels still not quite touching the ground, and then leaps, arms outstretched. One catches the fancy's leg, and a moment later, Hiromi's hooked her own leg around it, keeping herself aloft (if about 100 degrees from upright) as they fly. She remains like this during the trip, craning her neck to take in the sights. She's not wearing much, as ever, but the cold doesn't seem to bother her. They reach their destination, and at Hook's signal, she releases the hold of her leg, rotates just so on the way, and falls to feet and clawed finger-tips. She only half-straightens, from there. "We'll see what dreams bring." She's ready, then.
Captain Hook	"The water reflects the night sky," Hook says to Cantio as he adjusts his hat before stepping across the threshold and into the bloody rain, "Which catches the moonlight. The sand sparkles betwixt the false and the real - the reflection and the sky itself - and therein lie where Fancies fly." "And," he adds with a cheerful wink, "I live in the area." "Well, were I able to steal it myself," Hook says to Diomedes, "I'd likely have done so already, so perhaps the stories exaggerate just a tiny bit. Unfortunately this is going to need several people because of the various...eccentricities...involved in stealing the thing." Hook produces an umbrella from his coat a moment later. "Specifically, its guards." As they walk through the bloody mist indistinct shadows move around them. Hook doesn't even spare them a glance. "Dreamers," Hook says, "All dreaming the same sort of nightmare. A lonely foggy evening on dark streets. It may be New York, or Amsterdam, or Japan, or what have you, but this is a place where-" A shadow goes running past them into a tight alley. A moment later some...thing....lunges from where the shadow came. It's eyes, nothing but eyes, eyes on every part of a shapeless mass of something impossible to make out through the mist, eyes that zoom to look at the party, some compound, some blood red. Anyone who has ever dreamed of being alone in a dark alley, or a tight and unfamiliar place, chased by something they barely understand, may recognize at least one of those eyes - though the eyes do not recognize them. "-yes," Hook says, "That." "Dreamlands are rarely personalized," Hook says as they walk along the cobble way, "More collections of dreams than dreams themselves. Masses of..." He rolls his hook hand under the umbrella. "Stuff. Shared experiences." He tilts his head back at Hiromi and smiles. "Though I suspect my lady Archwolf has never had such an experience from this end, and I have yet to go searching for the sort of places great predators dream of." Then he puts his head forward and clucks his tongue. A great gate swings open onto a courtyard of gnarled trees that twine together like twisted lovers, branches knotted into an overhang. Above the trees, perched against the buildings, are gigantic figures with dangling tentacles and too many hands and no legs and singular great eyes staring downwards. As of yet they aren't focused on the party. Hook tilts his head up. "Pay them no mind," he says, "Nothing but watchers, those. Not only humans come here. No, the guardians won't show up until I steal the treasure. Once I remove it from its pedestal..." Hook clucks his tongue. "It's easy to get into a nightmare. It's harder to escape. Fear follows you like a cloud." He ducks into the courtyard and gestures for them to follow, though it may be a bit more difficult for Hiromi - the courtyard isn't tall enough to accomodate her comfortably. At the end of the courtyard is a pair of great double-doors. Hook taps them open with his cutlass. They creak and whirr as bells chime high above. The clock, up in the sky, immediately sets all its hands at twelve, and suddenly it appears to have entirely too many hands.
Captain Hook	Hook whirls on his heel to face the party. "So." He holds up a finger. "When we reach the top I am going to take the crown jewels from their place. At that time the door will seal behind me. None of you are to be within the room when the doors seal - while I have no doubt you are all brave souls and know firsthand your strengths and wills, I am uniquely suited to dealing with the strangeness at the heart of dreams simply by dint of experience and awareness of a dream's effects upon a conscious mind." "The lot of you will instead run from the doors, through the courtyard, back through the winding streets, and out of the nightmare into the green and pleasant lands just beyond it, where you will then," he tosses the bag of sand at Hiromi, "Spill a bit of this on the ground. I took a bit of my own, which I will be dropping on the floor to find my way out." "You will of course have to fight a multitude of monsters, contend with bizarre geometries, and of course race through a nightmare entirely about being chased, but I have every confidence in you all. I am quite literally putting my life in your hands." "Any last questions?"
Stanley Padgett	Stanley raises a hand. And then realizes he probably doesn't need to be called on to actually get answered. "Uh, Hook, Captain, sir. Should I be treating this like I do with Shadows? If I fight these things, it's not hurting People People, is it?" He flicks his foil out, letting some of the blood rain trickle down the blade, before sweeping it up and around to a ready position. "I'm still a little iffy on using my stuff on People." An anxious look at the others, and Stanley suddenly feels very small and very young among all these Elites.
Kale Hearthward	Oh, Hiromi's here... should Kale have included perfume in the disguise? Does Hiromi know the difference between how hawks and albatrosses smell? Would either of the above have made a difference anyway? "... Ah. The guards..." Diomede reaches for the single sword on her hip, resting a hand on its hilt, and then her other pats the flintlock at her other side. "So - run from the doors, dodge the boffins, get to the greens, and drop the sand. Sounds simple as houses - which makes me think it'll be anything but." She looks at the top, then back across the courtyard. "The fighting's fine with me, geometry was never my strongest suit but I'll manage, and no stranger to being chased..." "... So question, then, if it's all symbolic, should we... symbol back, at the symbols? Or what?"
Captain Hook	"No," Hook says to Stanley, "Nothing you do will harm the dreamers. They're merely visiting. If you break their dream they'll simply wake up in a cold sweat as you do when you're suddenly awakened from a nightmare. The guardians are of the nightmare itself, and they you may do as you like to, and I highly recommend you do." "No. Symbols and feelings are what make the place up but for us it is all very real. Unless you wish to literally be torn to shreds, of course, I would advise a similarly very real blade," Hook answers Diomedes as he adjusts his coat.
Stanley Padgett	"Okay good." Stanley takes a breath, unzips the hoodie, and then... Stepping from the side of the young man comes an 8 foot tall glowing, towering fencer, its mask a sheen of glazed neon and chrome and digital glitches. "Right, everyone, this is Mercutio. It's my other half, and I can take point. I go... very fast, very quick, and I can clear paths."
Timespace Riders	Zi-O shrinks back slightly from the mass of eyes in the alleyway, but ultimately continues onwards, once he realizes there doesn't seem to be any recognition. Through the gate and into the courtyard, Woz postulates with a regal flourish of his hand, as bloody rain streaks down his sleek, silver armor. "One could say that the same is true of those who fall into nightmares in the usual fashion, Captain." With a nod of his head, "I shall see to it my Demon King's curiosity does not cause him to tarry unduly within the tower." "We won't let you down, Captain!" Zi-O nods. An armored finger touches the 'chin' of his rocket-themed helmet. "A multitude of monsters, huh..." His demeanor brightens, patting Stanley on the back. "Woz and I will back you up at range--and if you get into trouble, his Shinobi armor's quick enough to get you out of it." Woz gives a single 'hmph,' arms crossed. Conspiratorially, Zi-O adds, hand cupped over his faceplate, "I have a secret weapon, too, if we need it. A power that's good for charging right into things. With Hiromi here too, we should more than have that covered!" Woz, turning to Hiromi, tilts his head. His armor, the 'smartwatch' to Zi-O's 'analog,' is just as expressionless, yet it's hard to mistake one for the other even without taking into account the clear visual differences. His body language is aloof, above it all, and somehow also a fair bit arch. "The Archwolf, I presume. I am Woz, retainer to the future Demon King of Time. A pleasure. The young man accompanying my Demon King is Stanley Padgett, a fencer of some talent." Was that a compliment?
Cantio	"That's so... Romantically pointless." Cantio replies, somehow sounding even more confused and entranced by the idea at the same time. "I mean, the logistics alone sound nightmarish, but to be able to craft something so specific..." Thankfully, Cantio's distracted babbling doesn't continue for long when there's more STUFF to absorb about how the sand works and about the Gothic hellscape he's taken everyone to. "Are they trapped here? The dreamers, I mean." Cantio narrows her eyes briefly following the shadow and its pursuer for that brief, yet uncomfortably long moment when she sees a familiar set of eyes staring right back at her. "I'm not expecting to come back here, but..." She lets out an uneasy sigh, then shakes her head. "Never mind. We've got a job to do." And so, Cantio continues along with the group, occasionally readying her sword like some kind of rifle before stopping again when nothing seems to actually be pursuing them just yet. Soon, Hook reveals the plan, and Cantio listens intently while taking notes on her phone to keep track of everything (in checklist format, even). "That sounds... Oddly straightforward. Er. Except for the chase part. That's..." She lets out another uneasy noise. "I assume the nightmare isn't something we can't just beat to death, is it?" Stanley's question about not hurting People People has Cantio stroking her chin lightly. She lets out another relieved noise when Hook answers in the negative regarding the status of the dreamers and the guardians. "That means we don't need to hold back too much, then. We'll just need to pace ourselves, if the walk.. Er. Run ends up being a bit longer than expected."
Hiromi	Would perfume have helped a disguise against a scent tracker? A bit, but usually not enough. One has to somehow destroy their old scent, and not just cover it up, to be sure. And yet, Hiromi's not calling attention to it. It's equally plausible that she doesn't realize who this sellsword is, or that she doesn't realize a disguise has been used. Along the way, given the lack of clearance, Hiromi drops into her four-legged form, a blink's time transitioning her a more purely recognizable wolf, a mere five feet at the shoulder. Good enough for squeezing through places. The silent bells by her ears, their red ties, and several bronze rings still signal her nature, not that the dreamers are likely to care. She stops to watch a nightmare pass, all eyes. Her own are unblinking. She sniffs the trail the shadow had trod, then continues on. Hiromi considers Hook's plan. "Escape-sand," she says, with a mouth that can't and doesn't form human sounds, but is nevertheless perfectly understandable. That obviously signals her understanding, carrying the impression of a slight nod. She's still in that form when she sits, gaining enough height to just slightly look down when she accepts his introduction and responds. "I am Hiromi," is the primary understanding that hits the mind, even if it's not the sound that she makes. Some here may be, by now, familiar with her mode of not-speech. Woz and Stanley, not yet, given how it doesn't carry over radios, the way raw understanding hits the mind, rather than words to be interpreted. The Archwolf. The Final Hunter. The Beautiful Wolf Empress. There's even suggestion of ideograms that Sougo might get, an implied 'correct' spelling of her name that can be partially captured. "A young warrior," she regards Stanley, "is one I'll watch."
Captain Hook	"I've no doubt of that," Hook says with a smile, "I trust all of you." The climb begins. It is, as one might expect of a nightmare tower rising above a city under a bloody rain, Highly Unpleasant - because it is silent. No sound carries within the tower. No footsteps. No breathing. The vast gears that tick and turn around them make not a peep. Words, though - somehow it is clear that words will travel. Perhaps for Hiromi and Cantio it is not as instinctual but anyone who has ever whispered in the dead silence of the dark, who has ever worried that Some Predator might hear even the quietest noise and stayed frozen under their blankets in the hope that the knocking on the walls is merely their imagination and yet dare not speak lest it prove to be untrue, they will know. The voice always carries, and it will draw attention. At the top of the tower hangs open a pair of wide, ornate doors, much like the ones below. Inside below pendulums that tick just out of synch is a crown, a scepter, and a sword. At a glance they are made of solid ruby and onyx. Looking away, however, there is the intense sense that the ruby facets blink sometimes, and maybe they have pupils in them when no one is looking save out of the corner of the eye. Hook strolls inside and waves his hand to remind people not to cross the threshold. Then, he turns on his heel, sweeps his hand and his umbrella in front of him in a bow to the party, drops his treasure chest, kicks it open, and slides the treasures inside, where they vanish with a click. And as soon as the treasures have left the pedestal the doors slam shut, splitting Hook from the rest of the party. The oppressive silence becomes deafening in its exemptions. Now it does not only exempt spoken words but the awful breathing of things just out of sight, and the thumping against the walls of creatures that cannot be seen. Now the stairs grow longer and longer, too long to be real but too geometrically correct to be unreal, that perfect mix of nightmare that can be called 'real enough'. The pressure of the hunt descends with force overwhelming. From where the doors were - and no longer are - is The Great Beast. Indeed it bears a taste of Hiromi, a twisted version of her own scent from the point of view of the prey, but it can surely be recognized as an impression of her left on some primordial time, some primordial nightmares from those she hunted as a hunter must. It takes all of a moment to understand that it is her presence that resonates with this place - because this place is indeed the fear of being hunted, and she is indeed the Hunter, so what else would answer her but herself made nightmare? The Dream-Hiromi howls. It pierces through the clock tower in a most literal sense. Part of the wall crumbles away to reveal the bloody moon through the shadows of a Watcher's moving tentacles as other creatures howl from below.
Stanley Padgett	Well this is a fine how-do-you-do. Stanley lets loose with a choice invective over the radio, before the very air he was standing in before has Four Stanleys in it, moving in opposite directions. Clearly not enough to truly distract a hunter of The Great Beast's caliber, but enough to let the young man scatter and catch his bearings from a nearby pillar he's shoved a Guardian off of. Mercutio shifts in place though, as the Persona hovers and shimmers around Stanley, like a great cloak around the young man. Something inside of Stanley says to him 'don't think, do'. And he DOES. Stanley plants his feet, and cries out. "This is my OTHER SELF. MERCUTIO." The ghostly Fencer caroms off a nearby chunk of the floating wall of the keep and aims to slam both of those massive sabers through one of the nearby Watchers, ripping at the tentacles to unblock a path back towards the courtyard. "CLEARING A PATH, AYE AYE."
Kale Hearthward	"Right..." The albatross woman waits as Hook heads on into the chamber. She draws her sword, waiting... "Ah - that'd be... it. Hook wasn't kidding." In the back of his mind, Kale reminds himself to say 'The Captain' or something similar, calling people by their last names like he usually does is a tell - but there's bigger concerns right now. There's a moment of every worry Kale/Diomede has right now, running through his/her head. The presence chasing them is just part of it - a big part, but right now would be when it all falls apart, wouldn't it? Any goodwill he's built up would crumble, even if they don't simply turn on him or abandon him in the dreamscape. Time to worry later. Focus now. "Stanley, if you're good at path clearing like you say, start clearing it!" Oh good, he's doing it. "Everyone, keep moving!" She blows air into the hilt of her sword. It activates - transforming, unfolding in on itself to reveal a gear-laden hollow center - which starts to whirr with the distinct sound of a vaccuum cleaner. She swings it at the next tentacle or monster that comes the group's way - and the blade sucks the foe towards itself, the end result is either getting woodchipped by the sharp gears, or simply cut apart by the rest of the sword! She keeps it up and at the ready - anything that tries to flank or get the drop on the group she zeroes in on, acting as spotter and interceptor.
Hiromi	To be insane, it could be said, is to have a broken mind. If a mind is missing something expected of it, some piece that 'should be' is out of place, and the connections that 'should' form cannot, then the mind is, it might be said, broken. To be insane is to be so different, whatever that difference might be, so long as it is outside of one's expectations. 'Fear' does not exist in Hiromi's mind. It cannot. It's not a matter of her size that prevents it, though she is quite large, and it is well-known that the larger a canine, the less it fears. The connections necessary simply aren't there. Her mind is 'pure,' in a way a mind 'shouldn't be.' For a human to be like the Archwolf would require one be utterly focused in a very particular sort of madness. That's why she can grin. No, that can't really be called a grin, in that form. That's bared teeth, a challenging growl, the expected show of will by one beast on meeting another. It's only a nightmare, congealed memories and imaginings, but that doesn't change the required response. A warning is given, whether or not it will be heeded. But the challenge wasn't to fight the nightmare, and Hiromi knows that. To defeat it is to escape with the treasure, and she still remembers Hook's plan. The Challenge, then, is thus. The winner is the one who reaches the goal. She knows this sort of hunt, too. She kicks off one wall, and rams into another, shattering stones against her head and continuing out into the air. It's a path that can be followed, whether by hunter or prey. But mostly, it's whistling wind, and below, it's twisted trees and cobblestones, some of which might survive her.
Cantio	Indeed, the sheer quiet during the climb is rather unsettling for Cantio. She's never been far from some kind of ambient noise, after all, whether it's the banging of tools on metal or the distant music playing throughout literally her entire home to aid in productivity, relaxation, and even sleep. To suddenly be in a place where she can't even hear her footsteps, then, ends up being rather disconcerting to her. Not even hearing her own breaths has Cantio forcing out a few louder breaths just to try and hear something, anything in all of this, even if it's just something that wouldn't be out of place in one of her cheesy horror movies. It's not until reaching the very top of the tower that she can finally hear herself and everyone else, then, that Cantio lets out a too-loud and mildly-odd sigh of relief. "Oh, that was... That sucked!" She announces with an anxious laugh, fishing around in her pockets briefly to dig out a set of ear buds and just attaching them to her phone for later. "When we head back down... Let me know if you need something for the noise. Not noise." As Hook heads in, Cantio gives him a firm thumbs up, and then she slaps some nonexistent dirt off her knees. "Alright! So now we just need to run b-" Before she finishes recounting the plan, the doors slam, and she inhales sharply while trying to and figure out if that's part of the plan. The silence getting worse is not part of the plan. "Gh...! Captain, do you need extraction?!" She shouts, partially to try and get a respons, and partially to remind herself that sound exists. Hiromi's vocal response turns out to be one of the most/only relieving things she can hear, and that's enough to get her to refocus on the task at hand. She joins Mercutio and Diomede at the front, oversized sword in hand and blazing with laser-based light. "Through the courtyard, the streets, and out!" She repeats mostly for her own benefit as she aids in chopping open a path for the group (and also lighting the place up for good measure), slicing into those tentacles until she sees Hiromi clearing up through the shattered walls. Naturally, Cantio follows Hiromi's opened path, leaping after her just to try and get away from that soundless hellhole.
Timespace Riders	The ascent up the tower is easily made, where both riders are concerned. Zi-O and Woz stand guard, on the correct side of the threshold. Zi-O's voice is a hushed whisper. "Uwoh... pretty..." Zi-O nearly steps across, but is stopped by the gentle insistence of his retainer's hand, interposed across the space-themed armor's breastplate. "Oh! Right. ...Woz, did you see..." "Pay it no mind, my Demon King," Woz whispers back. Yes--both of them are quite certain they saw -something- in those ruby regalia, but such things aren't easily observed when one actively attempts to do so. The retainer pays the bowing captain a cordial nod of his head before the doors slam shut. Both turn around. <J-IC-Scene> Diomede says, "Stanley, if you're good at path clearing like you say, start clearing it!" <J-IC-Scene> Diomede says, "... Is there anyone here who couldn't survive if we take the quick way down?" "Woz and I can both manage that--but I'm going to stick with Stanley!" Clearly, he wasn't expecting 'Hiromi' to be among the things they'd have to get through. Reaching for a futuristic pocketwatch, Zi-O presses the crown, and... nothing. The watch, with its radioactive hazard symbol, refuses to respond. "My Demon King," counsels Woz, summoning a spear, "That power is one which does not tolerate fear. Banish it or fight through it, but decide now!!" "...right! I'll fight through it!" With a rallying cry, Zi-O extends both arms. While Mercutio works at clearing a path through the Watchers, Zi-O covers him with a hissing hail of guided missiles. They fly out in threes and fours, banking sharply in the air to track the nightmare Hiromi. Meanwhile, Woz pitches in as well, lending his efforts to Stanley's directly by adding in oversized, purple hardlight shuriken to Mercutio's assault on the tentacles. What he lacks in Zi-O's quantity, he more than makes up for in 'oomph,' with each projectile carrying a violent aftershock following its initial cut. The moment there's an opening, the ninja-themed Rider stands up straight and strikes a kuji-kiri, disappearing in a puff of smoke with the sound of a deer scare. Zi-O, not far behind, takes off carried on boot-mounted thrusters, making a pass beside Stanley to carry him down if needed.
Captain Hook	Mercutio, Woz, and Cantio cleave through the tentacles of one of the vast Watchers that appear to hang on the sides of the building. The creature doesn't even react. No noise. No pain. No twitch. The huge, awful eye swings around to look at Stanley, then at Cantio, then at Woz. A huge eyelid closes over it in a very unpleasant Blink, made all the worse for how...apathetic it is. A big, lazy Blink from something so big and so alien it doesn't even care that it's being attacked. Either powerful apathy, or simply too powerful to need to care. At least that confirms what Hook said. The Watchers are no threat. That means they at least don't have to worry about the giant monsters and their tentacles hanging from the buildings! hooray... 'Diomedes' draws something out of the shadows. They may wish they hadn't. There is no end to the things in the shadows. There is no distinct beginning, end, or shape to the claws they pull forth. It's simply a claw - the Platonic ideal of a frightening predator claw - drawn on an infinitely-long shape infinitely hidden in shadows. The monster is always more frightening if you cannot see it all, after all. If the imagination fills in the gaps. The gaps may be worse than the imagination when the gaps are plain to see. Another claw comes up from the floor to grab at Diomedes as they make a break for it. Hiromi shattering her way through the wall catches it on her paw, freeing up Diomedes to run as the Great Beast bares its own teeth. It grows, bigger, in response to Hiromi's challenge, and immediately sets off after them, because that is what the very nature of this land is. Hunting. Being the predator. It is a challenge that the predator responds to because it must. The distorted, alien howling behind her has no meaning other than cold fear in the form of noise, no thought nor song behind it. Were it written down in some translated language it would be gibberish upon a page with only the impression of PREDATOR from the scrambled letters. Sougo's assault does not stop it, but the Great Beast is forced to turn its gaze upon him as the party runs. It lets out another phantasmal, distorted howl, at first too high-pitched and then too low-pitched, as if many throats howled at the same time in a singular BEAST comprised of both the highest shrieks and the lowest moans. As the group crash-lands through the mass of gnarled trees in the courtyard the trees immediately seal back up again. Only cracks of red moonlight peek through to illuminate the bed of leaves that most assuredly did not exist before - leaves that do not come from these twisted trees, because these trees have never born leaves before, ever. Even the brightest lights of phones and spells cannot see through here. Hiromi's predator senses can smell countless trails of countless phantasmal Dreamers all running around, obscuring attempts to find a clean and sensible trail. Before, they could simply see straight from the gate to the tower's doors. Now... Now it is the crunching of the leaves in the absolute darkness. It seems to come from everywhere at once - from all around. The crunching of something lurking in the woods, waiting. Stanley and Diomedes, however, can hear where it isn't. It is perhaps somewhat confounding to Hiromi, but, then, she cannot sense this for the same reason she cannot perceive herself to be 'prey' - that same purity of and perfection of concept is here a hindrance. That's good, because while the Great Beast has not yet reappeared, the sense that it's not far behind lingers in blood mist that's slowly rising around them even higher.
Kale Hearthward	GOOD JOB KALE, DRAWING THE HORRORTERRORS INTO THE LIGHT WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM No, no, wait, sorry. Let me try that again. GOOD JOB Diomede, DRAWING THE HORRORTERRORS INTO THE LIGHT WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM Anyway, she stops doing that pretty quickly. The path Hiromi makes is very welcome as an escape route. And then - they manage to break through. To... somewhere else. Diomede's sword de-transforms. She keeps it at the ready, but the vaccuum noises aren't needed right now. Right now, there's... She closes her eyes, trying not so much to find the way forward as to summon up some more courage in the face of the lurking beast - but the end result is still that she realizes, she can hear the beast everywhere around them... but also can hear where the beast is not. "Right, I think... we... need to go this way." She's not nearly as confident as she would like. But - in every case, action is always better than in action, and standing around would be death not just for them but for Hook, who's waiting on them to make it to the end.
Stanley Padgett	There's angry yelping from Stanley as he and the rest of everyone else get roughly dumped out into the courtyard, Mercutio breaking his fall at least with some blasts of Wind. He manages to roll out of the fall after the help, and crashes into the side of Zi-O before staggering up to his feet. "Hah! I'm here, great, uhhhhh..." This is still a horrible, awful nightmare, and Stanley is certain he's had this dream or one like it now that The Beast is There. The Brave Fencer hisses through his teeth, and then shoves his senses out as far as they can go, trying to suck information into his brain to try and get some semblance of control here. Which works, to a point. Stanley can absolutely sense where the danger ISN'T, despite everything else, which is a comfort, what little comfort can be had here in this place. The sword raises up, and he looks to Diomede, and nods. "This way people, if you can't stand toe to toe with that thing, follow us!" Stanley's foil and Mercutio's sabers star to cut and swipe at the Dark Things in their way, and he calls out. "Try and keep up!"
Cantio	The Watchers not particularly caring about the group does help Cantio relax more, however slightly. That still doesn't help her feel any less pursued by the constant gnawing dread of a nightmarish Hiromi somewhere behind her, but it does mean that moving forward/retreating is still well within the plan for this matter. She really would like her mind to fill in fewer gaps, so her only option is to continue barreling forward and trying not to think about what might be coming ever closer even as she and everyone else continues escaping from the dreaded thing clawing just behind them. "K-keep moving! Through the courtyard, through the streets... Wasn't the path through this courtyard clearer on the way here?!" Audibly freaked out once more, Cantio scrambles back to her feet after that crash landing. She raises her sword in front of her to try and illuminate that path in front of her, gritting her teeth in frustration when that light proves utterly unhelpful in the darkness. Diomedes and Stanley identify a path, and without anything else to go on, Cantio obliges. Against her better judgment, she sticks to the rear of the group, but she also appears right at the front with them. Rather, it's a (swashbuckler-dressed) clone of Cantio in the front with them while the real one sticks to the rear, perhaps making the foolish mistake of glancing back every now and then to see if she can get a glimpse of what's chasing her and the group. Weirdly enough, though, having that clone up front seems to be calming her ever so slightly as well. She knows she can just teleport to it, but the idea of getting caught in the mysterious pursuer's clutches is still terrifying nonetheless.
Timespace Riders	In the darkness of the forest, Woz has a Rider Moment, coming to an unhinged conclusion only vaguely within throwing distance of rational thought. "In the illogical land of dreams, there is no defense against trivia." Maybe, charitably, he could be making an allusion to fighting the nightmare of being chased with the nightmare of failing a test? "Makes sense to me!" the other rider present helpfully exclaims, as both keep pace with Diomede and Stanley. Passion! Fashion! Question! Futurering Quiz! QUIZ!! While Zi-O takes up the frontline with Stanley, mixing rocket-powered kicks in with Mercutio's bladework, Woz quizzes the nightmares from midfield. "True or false: Oda Nobunaga burned to death in 1582." In the darkness, the retainer's armor is briefly illuminated by a glowing red X which swivels out from one of his shoulderpads. The question-mark antennae gleams in the red glow. "The correct answer is False." Any nightmares which answered incorrectly--or refused to answer--are promptly struck with bolts of lightning. The retainer, wielding a polearm with a curved tip resembling a question mark, may or may not be on the right track in terms of 'effective attacks.' At the very least, the brief flashes of lightning should serve to illuminate their path in fits and starts, as he follows Stanley and Diomede's lead.
Hiromi	Plenty of scents to follow, but none useful to Hiromi. If she knew which of these trails led to the exit, that would be one thing, but do any of them? It's not the nature of a nightmare to be escaped by anything but waking. It's not the nature of a forest to have an exit. It may have edges, but not roads. Paths are only the histories of wandering. It would be different, were she human. Then, 'the forest' would be a thing separate from 'the village' and 'the home.' The lack of understanding hinders her. If the beast is following her, that is well. So long as she reaches the goal before it does. She's played this game before, though not under circumstances such as this. Unfortunately, things get worse -- there's no true earth and stone below on her which to draw. There is no 'truth' at all, but only the impressions of things. Sensation without substance. Feelings that promise meaning, but may yet tell lies. She orients on those scents she can recognize. One human, two Riders, a bird, and two Cantios. These are ones that don't belong in the forest, just as she doesn't. They're intrusions that weight more heavily than dreamers should. So long as she has those trails, even if she loses sight and falls away from earshot, she'll be fine. She can catch up to them in no time. She just can't lead them out. Her obvious course, then, is to be behind them, where the nightmare can surround her. She waits and listens, not far from (real) Cantio, and when she feels the presence looming, she rises on two feet, grasps a leafless tree, and tears it from the forest floor. In her hands, it becomes real, or close enough, for just a moment. Her own, overriding presence flows into whatever she wields, as it always does. As it must, for her chosen weapons to survive being grasped by her for even a moment. She swings it through a score of other encroaching trunks, along with whatever looms.
Captain Hook	Diomedes and Stanley have no trouble guiding them through the endlessly long forest. And it does indeed feel endlessly long. It feels as if it will stretch on forever. As if the arched canopy of twining, gnarled branches is a hallway with no end. Yet despite the dream-logic the place still seems to follow some alien geography, some rules that must be universal to the landscape of the Dreamlands. There is an end to it, because there is distance, and even if perception is warped the distance does not seem to change if you aren't a Dreamer. So, eventually and exhaustingly, after a run that feels like it's taken days, the group crashes through the courtyard gates and back onto the fog-choked streets. The gates shriek the shriek of an unoiled machine forced suddenly to do its job. The gates also hit one of the Dreamers. True to Hook's word the Dreamer simply vanishes, presumably waking up in bed in a cold sweat. Unfortunately, what Hook clearly did not know is that the particular thing chasing the Dreamer does not vanish. It is not the Great Beast that looks upon them now but one of those earlier things that's all eyes and all shadow. Now the eyes zero in, pupils focus, compound eyes whirl, to fixate on the party, and now there is recognition in them, because now that the creature's prey has been removed it is free to find new prey. This little creature knows Sougo, knows Stanley. Flashes of blurry faces they have assigned it in their dreams flicker across it like a lantern in a windowsill. Speaking of lanterns... The night sky is dark. Dark, dark, dark. But as the party runs street-lanterns begin to light. An unorthodox welcome sight in a nightmare. At first these seem like refuges. Standing within a streetlight means the monsters will not approach. Moments later it becomes apparent that they are traps. Standing in them even for a moment swarms monsters to it like sharks circling around a person in a diving-bell. The pale moment of safety is but a fleeting illusion. Woz's strange quiz is made of bright light, and that alone is enough to make some of the creatures back away. The attacks are enough to repel several others. But, uncomfortably for him... ...there's a Sougo. It's not a distorted Sougo, either. It's just...Sougo. With a big smile on his face. Sougo, who answers the question immediately, in Sougo's voice. "False!" He says with big cheer as he moves into step towards Woz. -there's no belt. The only thing chasing Woz. A Sougo who does not become Demon King. A Sougo who rejects every effort Woz can put. The only predator that could prey on Woz - a possibility that hasn't yet come to pass chasing he and Sougo towards the future. But, of course, for everyone else, it's not Sougo. Just one of the creepy eye-monsters. Meanwhile.. Cantio approaches the dream with Logic. Obviously she can just...escape. Teleport away. And that's true. Nothing will stop her. Nothing but curiosity. And so it is that she gets glimpses of the great thing hunting them. The great, monstrous creature. The Great Beast in Hiromi's distorted image. Of the breath from its snout pushing aside low-hanging bramble-branches and leaves. Of the horrid yellow gaze and the brilliant white teeth that appear from amidst the endless arkness every so often uncomfortably close to her. The longer she stares, the longer she stays, the closer it gets. The more she can feel its presence. The breath of it on her neck, hot and uncomfortable. She can feel its teeth in the anticipation on her skin, the tingle of something about to touch you all in the imagination. And... ...the more focused it becomes on her. And that means it's less focused on everyone else. So Cantio, hanging at the back, has the Great Beast's full attention. That means all that remains for the party is the nightmare-beasts of the streets, and then...home free to the safe green? Hopefully?
Captain Hook	It helps that Hiromi just flat-out nails the thing with a tree. The feeling is suddenly interrupted as the nightmare-creature itself is. The tree ceases in Hiromi's grasp at the full weight of hitting an invincible predator using the power of an invincible predator. Pure paradox in the dream simply forces the tree out of existence. No explosion, no shattering. Just no longer...present. Fortunately that definitely interrupted the Great Beast. But... It's not...focusing on Hiromi. In fact, that seems to have made it...well, not afraid of her, but not interested in her. The pressure no longer settles around her. The beast is no longer...there, for her. She killed it, as far as her presence is concerned. You can't just do that in a dream, after all. But Hiromi can. So...it's just...a phantom to her, now. And since she's no longer registering, the Great Beast's presence is gone. The dream-realm isn't registering her. Good! One less problem.
Kale Hearthward	Kale's trouble activates, right on cue. "There! Lanterns!" says Diomede, booking it for one. "We should be safe there!" And then she gets swarmed the moment she stops to catch her breath. "Bloody-" She starts trying to fend them off, sword in one hand and pistol in the other, but is clearly overwhelmed and will need a hand to get clear. "... C'mon, nearly there," she says, trying to shrug off the obvious trap that she walked right into. "Keep your heads about you!"
Hiromi	Hiromi, as far as she can determine, has defeated her pursuer. She struck it, and neither it nor her weapon continue to exist. It's gone. But there's no meat. There's still the scent of those who'd made it to the gates. She follows that trail, now, with this portion of the dream completed -- changed. Outside are... ...what? What is outside? Fears. But she can't comprehend them as such. Only by seeing how they interact with others does understanding come to her. She knows of fear. She knows how those that flee react to her, and to others. She knows the look and the motion. She knows what it is to avoid something, to search for safety in the light, just as she knows what it is to search for safety in darkness. She watches Diomede do the former, and become trapped. Hiromi leaps into the space on four legs, crashing into and through the dreamstuff in her way. She is claws and teeth and monstrous power, rending and scattering what's before her. "No safety is allowed here. Face forward and fight on." And once the encirclement is broken, she backs herself out of the light, again. She stays toward the edges, and watches the others advance. It's a bad habit, of sorts, but that's the way of it. If a challenge isn't meant for her, she finds far more meaning in letting others attempt it, and watching over their progress.
Cantio	Both Cantios are panting heavily as the streets come into view, moreso from the mental exhaustion of the long chase really wearing her down and then some while the physical exhaustion isn't quite as prevalent. That exhaustion, unfortunately, means the clone is more than ready to fall into the trap of taking a brief refuge under one of those lit-up lanterns. Getting swarmed, naturally, results in an initial burst of startled yelping followed by a great deal of wild slashing to carve through them and regroup with everyone else. "Why the heck... Is this place so huge now? Hook said it was going to be harder, but...!" Actually, that answers the clone's question entirely. The real Cantio, meanwhile, is so (relatively) confident in her ability to Simply Logic away the problem that she fails to remember that logic doesn't work so well when she's hit with gut-wrenching fear instincts. She sees the monster pursuing them. More importantly, she sees the monster pursuing her, and she gets an all too clear look at what things could be like if she was being pursued by a distorted, terrible form of the Archwolf. It's not a clear look by any means, but it's clear enough to know that she doesn't want to look any longer. She shouldn't look any longer, if she wants to they or is this whole thing relatively unscathed. Looking at it might even be making things worse, so the only sensible thing would be to stop looking. Cantio's heart is not logically flawless, and she keeps glancing back. She forgets she can Simply Teleport to her clone. She's too focused on everything she's feeling, and the only thing that saves her is, coincidentally, Hiromi herself. That snap back to reality doesn't quite get Cantio thinking straight again, but it's enough to get her to recognize terrifying friend from terrifying foe. When the feeling of the Great Beast is gone, Cantio practically launches herself at the Archwolf, shivering for one measured moment before pushing herself away. "Sorry! I... Thanks. I'm okay now." She doesn't sound okay, but she's got it together enough to continue running efficiently rather than scrambling in a panic. Perhaps it's because Hiromi's watching that she's getting her second wind, but she even seems enthused enough to get back to outright fighting alongside everyone and her clone! She's still shaky about it, but her power hasn't waned in the process.
Timespace Riders	A memory strikes Woz. Sougo, clinging to him. But Woz's hands are full--unable to console him. One hand holds the Almanac, full of futures and hopes for the would-be Demon King. The other holds a spear, used to fight for those futures. But there's no room in his hands for the Sougo that needs him now. In that moment, fighting against Xion by himself as Sougo begged him to stop, Woz had felt something he never had: uncertainty. And standing at the precipice of that emotion, he saw a terrifying abyss of unexplored feelings. He had run from them, then. And he runs from them now. "Correct, my Demon King," he says through gritted teeth, making his concern with annoyance. "Now put your armor back on and let us be gone from this place." His grip tightens on the polearm. The Sougo he sees refuses to. Woz insists. "If you insist on making this difficult, I will force the issue--" He steps forward, haft of the spear raised. "Woz? Woz! Who are you talking to? I haven't taken my armor off!" "...never mind." Precious time was wasted--wasted on confronting a fear nagging at the back of a retainer's mind, brought suddenly to the front. "I have located the power of another rider--and we will pursue it immediately upon our return. No more dalliances... my Demon King." "...right," says Zi-O, clearly concerned in tone and by the hesitation evident in his nod. "Keep free of the light! It must be how that nightmare found you." The future king and the retainer clear paths through the streets, avoiding both the lights (and Woz's trivia)--on their way there. Zi-O stays on the move to keep from the light cast by his guided missiles, while Woz changes places and takes to the frontline with that question-mark polearm. Catching limbs with the crooked blade forms part of the retainer's assault; the crackling red-blue shockwaves of energy make up the other part.
Stanley Padgett	There are gates. There are streets. There is Freedom. The Beast is gone, but now lots of Little Threats swarm the group again. Stanley's hand hasn't really been forced tonight, and while he's still coming off the rough fight against the White Rabbit, there's still a tickle in the back of his head, a lingering fear... one of those little nightmares whispering into his brain. .....if you don't do more, help more, fight more... they will resent you... stanley..... The Fencer grimaces and waves the thought away from his brain, and then raises his sword. Mercutio likewise raises both Sabers, catching blood red and blood rain in the blood moon, three glimmering arcs of light to follow, as he once again uses his threat senses to scamper through... Only this time, he's stabbing the threats along the way, rather than simply avoiding them. Mercutio's spells blast wind and slash air and cast poison into the skirts of the paths, dissuading more lookie-loos from creeping in.
Captain Hook	So close. So close. The lights along the street may be traps but they also guide. Because, at the end of the day, the thing about a nightmare where you're being chased is that eventually you reach a point you can't keep running through. For the Dreamers who will wake up soon in their beds this is a horrifying thing, a wall, a basement, some terrible place that suddenly ends with a jolt. For the party? Well, the chase is linear. The chase is always linear. You're always going away from the fear. And that means that, following the lights, eventually they'll reach the end. It is a long, exhausting run. Even for Hiromi it is exhausting in a spiritual manner, though it is likely far more satisfying for her, conjuring memories of a fine and enjoyable chase and challenge more than the breathless terror of the chased. As blades flash, as missiles burst, as the party runs and runs and runs, the path grows ever shorter, until, suddenly- -suddenly they've crossed the threshold without warning. An arbitrary line. Behind them now is the mist, the rain, the howling and the dark and the bloody moon. But as if the whole world was a cake that had been cut directly down the middle they are now standing beneath a bright blue sky on bright green grass. Clouds in the shape of fun animals float along above them in the beautiful sun. All one has to do is look slightly to the left to see the moment the blue sky turns to black night, but... Well, they're safe. The whole place has an elementally childish nature to it. Maybe some dreams of happier days, of childhood and summertime, have made this particular part of this strange Dreamland world. Sand scattered on the ground is all it takes for William Hook to come striding out of the mist as if he had been behind them all along, whirling his cutlass along behind him. "I told you I knew I could trust you lot." "An excellent dry run with a fine crew." He beams. "I trust I can count on you for further adventures?"
Stanley Padgett	Stanley huffs and puffs as he gets to the safe space. So far, actually fighting with Mercutio hadn't worn him out that badly. But this? Being chased is something entirely different. Stupid dreams. That said, he straightens up, and as the group makes it to safety, his fencer's garb dissipates around him, and he's right back to normal old Stanley Padgett, in his school uniform, looking slightly less luminous. "...Yeah... dry run. Spooky as hell though."
Kale Hearthward	Oh good, Hiromi's there to save her. It being Hiromi feels odd, though. That... means that she doesn't suspect? Or doesn't care? Or- - Worry about it later. Or not at all. Time to get moving. Running. Running is exhausting - Diomede makes a mental note to figure out some way to get personal flight without giving her actual identity away. And with the fear constantly nipping at her heels, she really, really wishes she- - she stumbles out into the green. They've made it. "... Whew..." She clears her throat, and stands back up straight. "Naturally. Of course you could trust me." Shit, what was Diomede's accent again. Was the intonation like this or like that, and the word choice was how again? And- - screw it, just improvise, nobody else is paying close attention (hopefully). "I always get results, of course." A pair of cards are produced - one handed to Hook, and one to Cantio. "If you have further adventures, I expect further payment - but otherwise yes, you should feel free to call on me as needed, or forward this number on to whoever else needs a steady sword arm."
Captain Hook	Hook examines the sand on the ground, then picks up a flower. "A fine week's work indeed." "Ah, relatively speaking. A bit fiddly, time in dreams. Might've been a week, might've been an hour. Best err on the long side and then recalibrate your sense of time. Tends to help." "We ought have enough sand to draw another Fancy, get us back to the ocean. From there we find a moon and fall through and we'll be back - though a touch soggy - on the docks."
Cantio	All that running, fighting, and trying not to faint from all those scares is really taking a physical toll on Cantio, and that sudden shift into the daytime sky with the grassy greenery surrounding has her nearly toppling over merely out of having her eyes blasted with light shift. She swings herself around to a stop as she turns to face whatever other pursuers might still be coming after herself and the group, and it's only when the chase is well and truly over does she finally allow herself to collapse backwards in an exhausted heap. The cloned Cantio isn't looking much better off, but at least she gets to stop being tired roughly around when she just falls onto the real Cantio and merges with the original. She takes a few heaving breaths to steady herself long enough to look over at Hook as he complements everyone on their work. "That was... Okay. Uh. Y-yeah, I'll need to... Bit of a break before the next one." She manages to get out with a weary laugh, still shaken but already recovering somewhat from the experience. She takes that card from Diomedes, too, managing to give it a once over before nodding at her and slipping it into her phone. Yes, into her phone. There's a slot for that! It makes quiet scanning noises. Cantio still can't get rid of that gnawing feeling of dread, though, at her Logic being overridden by her Gut. She'll need to work on that.
Stanley Padgett	But while Hook is busy explaining the complicated process of getting back to reality from the dreamworld, Stanley, like a disrespectful teen is on his phone, beeping and booping it it, before he makes a surprised noise. "...Oh, there's service here? Okay." He presses a button, and then looks at the rest of the party. "Okay, so like, my friends are headed to the mall, and I'm just... uh..." A Blue City Bus is suddenly parked in a nearby cloudbank, and Stanley is already getting into the doors that open. "Thanks for the job, Captain! I'll talk to the rest of you guys later, you can come get pizza or something!" The doors close. There is a ghostly noise, and the bus vanishes in a cloud of iridescent blue morpho butterflies that wink out like fairie lights.
Timespace Riders	By the end of the chase, and with their armor cast off, it's clear that Sougo looks more relieved than Woz. The latter seems, if anything, determined. "The sooner, the better," says the retainer with a barely concealed scowl. Sougo may not be the brightest when it comes to math, but for his age, the future Demon King is remarkably intelligent in an emotional sense. "Woz... you had a nightmare about me, didn't you?" "Don't concern yourself with it, my Demon King," says the retainer coolly, turning away to face Hook. "I concur with Cantio, Captain. It may be some time before I return to the land of dreams--my Demon King's future coronation draws the both of us... elsewhere," he says, with an upwards turn of his nose, tucking that mysterious book tightly under his arm, "Elsewhere." "I am pleased to have been of service."
Hiromi	Cantio reaches Hiromi. Hiromi, being as tall as she is, and at that moment possessed of the confusing, contradictory feelings of 'just having won' and 'her opponent escaping,' pats Cantio's head. "You'll grow." Probably. Presumably. If she doesn't, it's Hiromi's role to help. That help will, very possibly, not be much different from being chased by nightmares. What better way to help one face fears than to terrify them, after all? Hiromi follows behind the others, then, keeping away from the light, much like another hunting predator, if one not showing its teeth. Just eyes in the darkness. Watching Stanley and Mercutio, Zi-O and Woz, Cantio (and also Cantio?) and a familiar bird. Fighting through is the correct choice. Trying to find someplace 'safe' won't help. There's no escape but forward, and as she demonstrated, fears can be overcome through force. That's true on the emotional level, too, but the practical lesson will do, and she's not one to point out the moral. Force, anger, pride, determination... each will do. They find themselves out of the London-like rain and fog, away from the bloody moon, and onto cool, pleasant grass. Hiromi does what one does in such a situation, and she drops into the grass to roll over several times, rub the grass scents onto her and wipe away the red rain, stands back onto her feet, shakes hard, and then sits to wait for the sand to be thrown and Hook to catch up. She's not panting, because she never needs to, but she does look satisfied with the run, inasmuch as a wolf's face can show such a thing. Maybe a good bit more so. If one's not too hung up on it being human-understandable, there's plenty of expressiveness in her, this form included.