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BB Wherever he had fallen asleep, Robin Sundance had been troubled by images of cherry blossoms burning like fire across the ground, dancing in a petal-flurry which could only be rendered into a consuming fire.

Troubled by images of a void that pours and endless black ocean down, down, down, like squid ink being poured into a bottomless pit - and outpacing the drain-out.

He finds his toes in the warm ink, tingling like taking a bath in soda water that adheres like rubber. The enveloping hug of liquid quicksand, a welcoming fall that begs him to just relax back into it.

The begging is an insistence. He falls, and instead of splashing into the strange substance, falls some more. Falls and falls and falls and--

Wakes up. Robin can smell the sweet, pleasantly chemical 'clean' scent of bleached white sheets, warmed in the morning sun for hours. Outside, a bay window sits open, framed with white sheets - a hotel in some beach paradise, where the distant churn of the sea whispers away. The bustle of a city of happiness and festivals begins its morning routine below.

His head rests on something warm and soft that shifts gently as his awarness returns. A hand brushes his cheek, and strokes against his hair with a familial affection.

Opening his eyes, he cannot see the face of whose lap he rests on, due to the hang of her chest over his vision, but he can get a pretty good idea of whose lap he 'fell asleep' on.

"Wish granted, Robin Sundance~." Coos the owner of the lap and chest.
Robin Sundance      Robin doesn't sleep calmly often. Normally, his sleep is troubled by memory more than nightmare - by the memory of that moment, with Alouette's pleading eyes, and the belt in his hand. His sleep is troubled by a feeling that he could be doing more, a feeling he wields for his smile. That smile is as much a weapon as the Vaulder is. That smile is as much a shield as the Vaulder is.

     The burning cherry-blossom dance is almost a relief.

     Almost.

     So these nights he's been running. He's a thief. He's good at that. At first he ran away from the cherry-blossoms. At first he raced as fast as he could, until he awoke in a sweat. Then he ran towards them, as if to fight, and awoke in a sweat.

     Tonight, he's falling. He's falling, falling, falling. Black ink drinking him in like earth claiming roots. Tendrils of rubber ink tingling and clinging. But it wants him to relax. That much is clear. Fighting the strange dreams had gotten him nothing but exhaustion, right? Had gotten him nothing but a cold sweat-stained mattress. So...

     So he relaxes.

     And he plummets.

     And he wakes up in paradise.

     Warm white sheets. An open bay window. The sound of the ocean, playing gently against the land. The cheer of a festival. The bright and beautiful sun.

     This is...a reward?

     The thought - that it is something he does not deserve - is immediately interrupted by a hand across his cheek. To his credit, he does not tense, does not move to react. That he rarely tenses in response to danger - that he rarely tenses because he approaches it with a smile - is a great boon here.

     Her hand touches his cheek.

     His hand goes to hold it there.

     "Ah, ma BBelle madamoiselle," he says cheerfully, "Though this is not what I meant when I said I wished to see more of you, I shall not over-argue with the view I am being offered. Tres bien."

     "Mais, is that the only reason you brought me here? To show me...more of you?" There's a grin on his face. "Or is there some other reason you have been replacing my dreams at night?"
BB This is... a wish.

Hand held against Robin's cheek, BB leans her head forward, hair falling in a curtain to the left and right of her chest and tickling Robin's ears.

"You can have any view you want, RoBBin. If that's~ your~ wish~. Welcome to my Paradox Paradise, Luluhawa. An island realm outside of time and space, where every little piggy can--"

A wide smile touches her lips, pulling at the corners of her cheeks. "--well, where they can do whatever they want! It's a festival that never ends!"

The question is asked, though, what she wants. Why she kept giving him Unskippable Cutscenes in his head.

"Well, part of that is you, silly!" She giggles with an impish 'kehehehe', rolling her shoulders forward and back to add waggle to her laughing amusment. "If you can't get me out of your head, then I'm a working-as-intended-BB-chan~!"

"I'm gathering men of power for my Paradox Throne. I need strong, manly champions to save everyone! And I've stillll got so many..." She winks. "Slots open."
Robin Sundance      "Is that right, madamoiselle~."

     Any view he wants, if that's his wish. Paradox Paradise Luluhawa.

     There's a light shrug. He hasn't let go of her hand. "Well, I cannot say that I much enjoy being called un petit porcelet. I should like you to clarify something for me - when you say 'whatever they want...'"

     "How many are being hurt?"

     His grip tightens on her hand. "How many are you letting be hurt? How many are you helping hurt others?"

     "This matters to me, madamoiselle."

     His free arm swings around to grab her by the shoulder. He moves to flip her over him and onto the sheets, his hand pinning her wrists, his eyes sharp. "This matters to me a great deal, madamoiselle. I am, after all, the thief who steals back the smiles of the downtrodden. If you are the one trodding upon them, then however am I to be your champion?"

     He leans in close, his eyes - grey, with a hint of green and a splash of red, odd-looking eyes to be sure - locked on hers. She can feel his breath in her mouth. His lips brush against hers. He's no stranger to this, at least, this kind of near-combat, near-sexual back-and-forth of wills. "How many cruel wishers are you enabling right this minute, madamoiselle, to hurt those who have no power to fight back?"
BB Taking the lead, Robin asks his questions, flipping the situation - and BB - all about.

It's easy. Just enough effort to warm the arms and her weight tumbles about. Her expression is cartoonish, frames of 'waoh!' blushing shock, cheery 'wahoo!', or winking tongue-out 'teehees!'.

Pinned lightly, she settles on distantly pleased while Robin brings his face close. So close to her eyes, he sees the red heart-pupils in the wide rings of bright purple. Alien and impossible.

"I know it matters to you, Ro-BBin~. But you're asking the wrong BB the wrong question. In this paradise, the inhabitants are beyond pain or death, so how could harm come to them? They are beyond time, so how could age or waste be known to them? My Luluhawa is the ultimate escape, BBecause you get exactly what it says on the label:"

"Pa."
    "Ra."
        "Dise~."

BB leans forward just a bit to place a little 'smek' of a kiss on Robin's lips.

"You must think I'm a demon. Too evil to BBe good. Too good to BBe true. To true to BBe possible. I'm nothing of the sort. What~ You~ See~ Is~ What~ You~ Get-to~!" She sing-songs, her nosetip eskimo kissing Robin's as she closes her eyes and waggles her face, before her head flops back into the sheets, hair fanned out, smirking up at Masked Ranger Thief.

"I oppress the wishless. I'll grind out the unworthy. I loathe all of humanity's uselessness, and if I can oBBliterate their weakness I will. But it's not *their* fault. Their planet betrayed them. If I have the power to grant wishes, then, Robin..."

Her mouth moves, but her voice doesn't come out. It hangs in the air, dripping black from red cubes that spin listlessly through the hotel room.

"Would You Rather I Only Granted The Wishes Of The Few?"
Robin Sundance      Alien pink reflected in strange grey. Their eyes locked. He's looking for something that isn't there. He's seeking out a reason to disagree with her. A reason to say something that isn't agreement. The deal is too good to be true, after all. It's too good to be true. She wants everyone to be happy. She wants everyone to be in paradise. And then she speaks it, the words he's thinking, the words he's saying.

     Then comes the knife.

     'Would you rather I only granted wishes to the few?'

     At this, he grins. "Ah, ma BBelle. I am afraid that you've defeated me, there. I cannot in good conscience say 'yes', can I, and still call myself a thief who saves the smiles of the downtrodden. Mais I cannot either say that I can support grinding out the unworthy, obviously. That is a line of thought that..."

     "Well."

     He leans down to press his lips against hers. She can feel him talk against her lips, his mouth moving as they kiss. It's a tactile sensation just for her - communicating in her own language.

     "I cannot condone. So I have a solution, ma Bbelle."

     "I cannot serve you. I am a thief. A thief who serves is a thug, and I refuse to be a thug. I, too, serve everyone who needs my help. I, too, grant the wishes of those who cry out for succor. Were I to be your champion, it would merely be selfishness on my part. I am everyone's champion."

     "So, then."

     "I wish to be your worthy opposition."

     He grins against her lips. "You will grant the wishes, oui? It is in your nature. You will give them power and happiness. And when you grant the wishes of those who would hurt others, I will snatch those wishes back to protect those you deem unworthy. I will protect the hearts of even those who have no wishes."

     "So I shall do as a thief does."

     He tilts back a bit. "I will steal from the wicked."

     "I will steal from the cruel."

     "I will steal from the greedy."

     "And I will steal your heart."

     And then he kisses her, a deep, strong kiss against the bed, pushing her head back against the pillow, his hands pushing her wrists deep into the bed. When he breaks the kiss, he says, against her lips:

     "And when I have stolen your heart, there will be no more unworthy. Only Paradise for everyone."

     He grins the grin of a phantom thief against her lips. "I trust that is much more interesting than simply rolling over beneath you, ma Bbelle."
BB Robin makes a pitch. The world swells with the charged, declarative, I-Want/I-Am energy. Like a live electric wire, it sings against the little hairs on on the neck and arms.

Even when kissed, BB's expression remains expectant, that 'mmhmm, aaaaand?' playing-on approach.

He makes his climax, his offer, BB is frozen in that expectant -- 'yes, and?' blushingly warm smile.

Then the sink turns on in the bathroom. The ksha-ksha-ksha-ksha of foamy toothpaste and straight-bristled brush working against a hard surface.

A cartoonish 'ptooie!' and a loud set of washing, gargling, rinsing, and spitting of water, before--

Another BB steps out of the bathroom. This one, darker than the 'adorable kouhai' underneath Robin, shares more in common with a Pacific Islander, hair just a hair of a shade paler. This 'Dark BB' wears a pair of yellow fluffy pyjamas, loose full-break legs bunched up around her bare feet, strained top, a long thin red scarf tied like a bow around her neck and hanging down across her chest, and fluffy peaked nightcap hanging sideways across her head with a five-petal pom.

The BB underneath robin pops like a balloon, expanding outward like a split piece of rubber snapping in every direction simultaneously.

"Sure, alright. Whatever gets you going, RoBBin. I just can't be *as* excited about Yet Another Counter-Guardian. I collect them without even trying!" She stamps her bare foot against the plus carpet petulantly. "I just want everyone to join my amazing perfect paradise right now, but I have to *trick* people into it. It's *frustrating*, sempai."

She walks past the bed to close the bay windows, the view outside the closed glass panes an entirely mundane city outside rather than the endless island paradox paradise of Luluhawa.

"This is also why I hate humanity. If you really want my heart, RoBBin, you know the words you can say to have it."

Her heart-pupil'ed eyes turn back to the Thief, as she sits across the side of the bed, pyjama'd legs crossing as she braces back on her hands. "The power you could gain, though... From BBetting your place at my side against your triumph in your own world. I'd like to see that, too."

She lifts her hand from the bed, held out invitingly to Robin. "Are you willing to challenge me, Robin Sundance? If you win, the triumph you crave. If you lose: You'll fall BBack into my Paradise."
Robin Sundance      Robin laughs. Yeah, he'd expected that kind of thing. How many of his romances had turned out to be things like that? Where he'd gotten close to someone only to find out that they were in fact not what they seemed? It was *always* too good to be true. That was his lot in life. He was only attracted to women who opposed him, evidently. It's part of why he didn't trust Amanita Gin - she was attracted to him.

     Like actually, and not 'because he's pretty.'

     So when she reveals her other self, he swings his feet around and leans forward, a grin on his face. "Is it frustrating? You are not tricking me in the slightest. I want to be your opposition because that is the way it should be, oui? A thief should not serve. A thief should steal."

     "If I just gave up," his fingers reach out, and twirl forward, in the same sort of enticing beckon, "And said the words, then I would not be the Masked Ranger Thief you want."

     His fingers go to his forehead. His grin widens. "And you must admit, playing hard to get is its own form of love."

     "Oui, madamoiselle. I'll bet my place at your side against my own triumph."

     He leans forward and takes her hand. "If I did not dare, if I did not chance, if I did not oppose, if I did not make myself a worthy chase..."

     "Well, again, then I would not be Robin Sundance, would I? And then I would be so terribly boring, I would lose your affection in a heartbeat."

     There's a rose in her hair.
BB BB groans, her un-beckoning hand balling up the sheets under her. "Those words are totally garbage, sempai!" She complains, her beckoning fingers curling indicatingly. "I'm not tricking you. That was me. This is me. I'm the expontential, limitless, what-you-see-is-what-you-get BB. I don't need to lie, BBecause I am a Truth. I don't need to decieve, BBecause people will trick themselves for me."

Her smile is thin, a neutral sort of 'sure, you got me' at hard-to-get being a sort of love. "Mmhmm. BBut it's hard for me to tell sometimes. Where does play end and reality begin? I keep things simple."

With the rose slid behind her ear, BB leans forward, drawing a fingertip up Robin's collar to stroke the inside of his jaw and rest her beckoning palm before his covetous Thief eyes.

In her hand spins a microcosm of Kale's East Wind, held in a prism-like red cube.

"You're a powerful man. I'll love you anyway - BBecause I desire you. Do you... desire this?"

He can just reach out and take it. The Mana Prism containing the East Wind. It'd be so easy -- and leap out the window, clear into the streets. Escape the dream, and be home free.

Isn't this, too, his Wish?

"What will it BBe? Se-m-pai? Will you spend 'today' BBeing the Masked Ranger?"

Turning, BB prowls up the bed on her hand and knees, as she holds out the East Wind prism. "Or will you spend 'tonight' as my newest Guardian? All you have to do is stay in paradise-"

"Ro~"
    "BB~!"
        "In~."
Robin Sundance      "I know, I know," Robin assures her, "Je comprends, ma BBelle. I was not accusing you of trickery. Simply reassuring."

     His lips quirk. "Perhaps it is simply that the words of a thief are not good at convincing someone of such a thing, though."

     She leans forward. Her finger runs along his jaw. She holds out her hand, and there's a red cube inside it, whirling with wind. It's true. He could go take it, and ruin Kale's life pretty much immediately. Hell, Kale just *seeing* him use it would be amusing. He didn't think all that much about the cop, but the cop was so easy to get a rise out of that it was just fun for him. He barely had to try!

     She leans forward. He stares at her for a long, long time, fingers playing in her hair.

     He pulls her head forward for a deep, deep kiss. His other hand snags the crystal out of her hand.

     Then he breaks the kiss and flips the crystal into the air. It disappears like a magic trick. Another lingering kiss as he steps backwards. "I think...that this is the more interesting option, don't you?"

     "And Heaven help me if I am not the most interesting thing in the room." His strange eyes glitter. "So keep your eyes on me, ma BBelle, and I will show you things you have never yet dreamed of. I will show you a Paradise of fascination you won't be able to tear your gaze from."

     He puts his fingers to his forehead and raises his heel and knee. "And you will love me so much more than your Guardians."

     And then he's out the window in a backflip. He lands on something thin and unlikely, takes a sweeping bow, and flicks a bunch of sakura petals into the air. They burst into flames.

     And he's gone.
BB Sprawled out, alone, in a hotel room lost to time, BB wipes her lips off with a finger, before popping the digit into her mouth idly.

One more teasing taste of him, as the window reverses its course in time, fixing itself interchangeably with shards of glass or cherry blossoms and ashes.

The glass shines through to the shoes of Luluhawa, bright and sun-lit.

The ash-glass shows the same beaches and streets as the glass but instead of buildings, black tentacles studded with orange and red writhe towards the twilight sky.

Through the glass, all colors and shapes of people happily engage in endless, eternal festivals and parties and paradisial island life.

Through the petal-ash, the volcanic glass window shows all sorts of long, purple-haired individuals in every sort of outfit and variation of build and skin-tone, but uniform in their shared identity.

With 'no-one else' to see her, BB rolls back and forth on the bed squealing with unabashed delight. "I heard it! He said it! Kehehehehehehe! Robin Sundance..."

"There's only one person who I love 'so much more' than my guardians... I look forward to your own BBecoming, Masked Ranger Thief~!"

Her laughter echoes through Minus Space, and the eternal island paradise rings with her joy.