towerofanimus | DREAM A LITTLE DREAM WITH ME

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM WITH ME

Characters: all the characters involved in the Dream Event
Setting: various dreams, various locations
Format: any
Summary: Xehanort draws a large amount of the tower into worlds constructed from their dreams in an attempt to learn about everyone en masse
Warnings: ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING

[Tendrils of magic wound their way around, lines of energy flickered into existence, forming a large shape on the ground around where Xehanort sat with his back straight and legs tucked neatly beneath him. Perfect. It was a bigger scale than the one he'd done but a month before, already he could feel the flickers of connection, the shape getting brighter and more defined.

More participants. More mental drag. There was little to worry about. With Xigbar on guard duty, his sleeping body would be quite safe. No, it was time to dream... and see just who would follow.

Darkness shrouded his hand, keyblade flaring into life, and he gripped the handle in both hands, aiming it at the ground, at the keyhole defined by criss-crossing darkness responding, resonating...

drowsiness laced through him, the blade in his hands sagging downward until the tip touched the ground, his posture slacking, head and shoulders slumping slightly

in slumber, the dreams of others awaited

the Master was asleep.]

OOC NOTE BECAUSE I CAN'T EDIT THE POST IT'S ON ANYMORE AND NOT REDOING ALL OF THAT: Dreamers should post to their REAL WORLD thread explaining where their character is, if they made it to a bed or if they're on the floor somewhere or wherever.

If you have questions for me, put them in your base character thread!

If I missed you somehow, let me know and I'll add you to the appropriate section!

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He'd gotten it to the work-- that much was progress!

Or at least he was...pretty sure? He'd been able to dive properly, he was sure of it; and here Ven came to find himself as nothing but a black silhouette, a thing yellow-green outline separating his own body from the white and gray background, and the solid black path. His clothes felt more...well, different than they usually were. He could feel more armor on his arms, and long sleeves, no vests, bigger boots. And where his Keyblade had been, lingering just next to the back of his leg, was now a sword, with a rather fancy hilt. He boggled at it for a moment (it felt so light in his hand!), before returning his mind to a more important matter.

"Sayaka...?" Where was she in all this mess?

The first thing apparent is that it's bright, perfect to hightlight the intricate patterns twisting and overlapping one another overhead. Impossibly pure white light pours in from every direction, so much so that everything actually being illuminated by it can only be portrayed in that stark shadow Ven found himself as. Everything, save the stylized burning torch at the center of things.

There was a giant arm's length of space to walk upon, from that torch to where the stone-like face of the bearer loomed overhead. Beneath the face was where Ven found himself - next to the silhouette of an obviously fretful girl.

Far away from them, near that torch, was a figure kneeling peaceably. In the midpoint from here to there was where Ventus would spot Sayaka.

She held a sword in a combative stance, a sword much like the one that'd replaced Ven's Keyblade. Compared to the easygoing, if impish girl Ven knew - she seemed very shaken. Her rattling breaths could be heard clearly.

As Sayaka drew up the courage to approach the Witch, there were a few tense seconds where things lay at a standstill.

He spared a glance at the fretful girl to his side-- he hadn't even noticed her until just now. "Hey, is everything..." Whether it was the effect of the dream or his own discretion was up in the air, but either way whatever he said died on his tongue. Somehow he felt like he wouldn't be able to help this girl anyway. As much as he wanted to... it was Sayaka that he had to focus on now; he had to focus on the dreamer, keep Xehanort from seeing whatever there was to see.

So he turned forward again, watching Sayaka walk forward a few steps before going after her himself, speaking up louder to break the tension. Something was wrong. "Sayaka--!"

She doesn't heed his call.

When she takes those first few steps, toothed maws on serpentine bodies leap up toward her from nearby her target, though there's only, say, three or four. Nothing overwhelming yet.

As Sayaka falls into a lumbering dash, more appear - and they close in around her fast. She's faster. One by one, she dispatches them with brutal slices of the blade - they don't bleed, cleaving easily at her strikes. Clearly exasperated with just dealing with the small fry, Sayaka pushes on past the newest wave, leaving them behind even as they regroup to chase her.

Edited 2012-08-01 07:47 (UTC)

The events are startling, and he felt his eyes grow wide with surprise. What was she thinking, doing something so risky like that? Usually she exercised way more discretion when using her magic.

(Oh right, Dream land that was the answer)

He couldn't help but be worried though; he was speedy enough to keep pace with her when he wanted, so he dashed forward himself, swinging his sword forward into the current wave of creatures, finding the sword surprisingly light as he sliced through them. He was gonna have to get used to using less force with one of these.

"Be careful!" He called, slicing into some more to try and clear a path to chase after her.

The force of the memory drew up more foes for every one Ven destroyed, like the heads of a vindictive hydra trying to stymie him from effecting things at all - their single-minded dedication to re-enacting the past was their undoing, however, as they chased after Sayaka just to expose their lithe necks to be cut back down.

Sayaka came to a shocked stop in her tracks when a wall of the serpents leaped up nearly right under her feet, but she quickly turned that falter into a tactic to strike back. Bracing herself against the floor, she jumped up impossibly high - past the reach of the snakes throwing themselves into arcs to chase after her. Like she'd thought before - they were small fry, easy to be rid of and outpace.

In midair, she flipped - and kicked off of empty space itself, circles flecked with musical notation spreading like puddles from where she'd kicked off from. This sent her straight at the Witch waiting below, and she readied her sword to finish it off in one stroke -

It wasn't as helpless as it looked. Where before it was a simple kneeling girl, now something like roots or branches grew up from her back in a flash, catching Sayaka in mid-attack - and it kept growing, sweeping away the Puella Magi within it.

When the tree had stopped growing, there was no sign of Sayaka hanging on its branches - where before the girl Ven had appeared beside seemed worried, now she was anguished, calling out. "Sayaka-chan!"

Edited 2012-08-01 08:38 (UTC)

He brought the sword through another throng of necks-- coming dangerously close to jamming the blade into his shoulder if it wasn't stopped by the more expansive shoulder armor this place had given him. Instead, it made contact with an unceremonious "clang," and he spared only a small moment to flinch.

His attention was drawn away from his own incompetence however, as he looked up and saw Sayaka consumed by-- branches?

He swung his sword again, this time outwards, half jerking his attention towards the strange girl from before, distracted by her cries. It would benefit him in the long run though; judging by her reaction, things were going sour fast, and he needed to act fast. His body already felt lighter and stronger after pulling off that last attack.

In another half-second, he swung the sword back again, his other hand jamming up into the air to summon a Magnega spell. He was glad it still worked, and it gathered up the remaining snakes. The next second, he jumped up and sliced through them all, giving his...he was guessing his transformed Keyblade and himself another boost, to activate the Style he needed; his sword disappeared and he was surrounded now by six, small thin swords, that in this setting glowed a transparent light blue.

His body was lighter now, and with the boost of an Aero spell and the magic surrounding the blades, it flung him high enough to reach the bulge where he was sure Sayaka was stuck. He brought two of the light blades around, spinning them forward and slicing through the branches with ease.

The floating blades freed his hands, and once he had sliced through the monster, he grabbed Sayaka with both arms and allowed himself to float lightly to the ground. "You-- You OK?!"

Considering the odd black cast to everything in this place, it was impossible to tell the real extent of Sayaka's injuries - there were multiple rivulets of red beginning to appear upon her body, though. How could that be anything but blood?

Sayaka was utterly silence and still until Ven touched down upon the ground - at which point she quickly slipped away from him to attempt to stand, but wobbled and stumbled down to the floor nearly immediately. Gritting her teeth, Sayaka compromised on staying in a crouch, for now. Her eyes fixed themselves back on the Witch that had nearly just done her in - there had to be a better way to approach to kill her. Her mind raced for a new plan of attack.

The blood was obvious-- and he'd seen her regenerate before, but he still brought another light blade to twirl and cast a quick Cure spell on her while she crouched.

He turned his attention to the monster-- He could take that, no problem. Its attacks must have been heavy, but aside from the growing branches, it would stay in one place. It was almost as if he was sparring with Terra, and even some of the larger Unversed he'd fought had a simpler strategy to them.

Ven stepped forward a step or two in front of Sayaka, his left hand reflexively held out just a bit s one of the blades hovered round it.

"Don't worry, I can handle this-- go back and make sure your friend stays safe, OK?"

Look.

The wounds were gone already.

If she was now uninjured and she told herself - _{'no, that didn't matter when I got hurt'} - then really, had that been painful at all?

Someone, anybody else - it would stay real to them, even another Puella Magi would need time to recover. But for her, it was ephemeral, therefore meaningless.

"Don't get in my way."

Her voice was dull and low, colored darker than any tone Ven had ever heard out of her in the past. She knew what to do, now. And it would be simple. "I can do it myself."

There was no time to spare from her saying that, to taking off at a speed far outpacing anything she usually pulled - the solution was obvious, really. Just run a straight shot, low to the ground - then a leap, not too far away for the Witch to prepare, but not too close that she wouldn't have enough force behind the swing -

And Sayaka swung. It worked. The Witch's head split amiably from her neck in a shower of blood, but Sayaka was instantaneously counteracted. Were they the Witch's arms? Either way, too lanky appendages swatted her to the floor like a bug. Another cry of Sayaka's name came from her noncombatant friend - why was that girl here, if she couldn't fight?

The headless body of the Witch flailed about amorphously, trying to recover some definition.

Edited 2012-08-01 09:58 (UTC)

Ven was a chatty person; he wasn't overly hyperactive or annoying, but he wasn't easily left without words. But Sayaka's change in disposition-- the very tone of her voice-- had left him absolutely speechless.

He was shocked, truly. He looked at her, mouth agape as she spoke, and as she ran off, even the blade swirling around him twitching off kilter to fit his mood. What was that? Was this the kind of things Sayaka dreamed about? Was this what she normally thought about?

It wasn't until the monster grabbed Sayaka and the other girl screamed that he snapped out of. Panic mode was fully on now, as he qiuckly flung both his arms forward, two blades rolling off around his wrist and flying forward, slicing through the appendages that held Sayaka on each side.

"Sayaka--! Stop!! This is too dangerous!"

It was rare that he made such declarations himself (he had thought a moment ago that he could handle it just fine, after all), but he was worrying, and it showed in how his voice was strained.

She starts giggling. It's quiet, at first, probably muffled due to the fact that she's still face down eating turf.

With the arms holding her down cut away by Ven's helpful intercession, Sayaka's free to painstakingly draw herself back to her feet, still relentless. It's clear that she's laughing, now - a desperate chuckle that seems to be half on the edge of a sob. She doesn't show any sign of stopping.

As the Witch reforms itself, into a sharp mound that lashes out into long spikes, Sayaka's cut again. She doesn't even budge from her hunched stance, even as it's her blood spilling through the air now. Her shoulders shake with mirth, as she looks up - and is plain slapped into the air by the Witch lashing out again with all it has left, getting briefly pummeled by it. That shuts her up. Briefly.

She starts to twist about like she's nearly dancing, batting away each attempted hit until she slams down hard on what's left of her dying foe.

She's... laughing?

No, that didn't make any sense-- what kind of nightmare was this? She was getting hurt, there was zero technique or method to anything she was doing other than swinging her sword. He knew Sayaka was smarter than this-- not only was she being stupid, she was being dangerous.

The blades flew out behind him as he hovered through the air, trying to reach past the blood, her jerky movements, the remains of the monsters, trying to grab onto her shoulder and pull her back, away from the fight.

"Stop, you're gonna get someone hurt--!!"

She'd taken to inelegantly bashing what squirming mess was left when Ven got to her, wracked again with a return of her violent fit of giggling.

"It doesn't! Not at all! He told the truth! As long as you want, you really don't..."

She allows herself to be dragged away, though. Stumbling back, she nearly collapses into him, sword clattering from her hands. "You don't... have to feel pain any more."

It proved to be a mistake pulling her away while it was still moving even a bit - six desperate, grasping hands reach out to latch onto the both of them, squeezing like vices where they can find purchase.

That wasn't right. None of it was. He'd fought with Sayaka before, she'd gotten hurt before, even if she had that special regeneration. Why was this happening?

For a minute he almost feels relief when she relents, and the weight causes him to tumble and fall back, still keeping a grip on her shoulders. But when the hands rise up again-- well, he was used to high pressure situations, but he was already panicked and riled from before. So the hands were more than a little terrifying right now.

His eyes went wide once more and he flinched from their grip. The blades around him quickly flew around to try and slice them away.

They were easy to finish off. The attack had been a death rattle, at most. Already, the magic holding the Witch's Labyrinth together is unraveling...

It appears that this dream - _memory? - is fast approaching the end, as well. The impossibly bright light begins to fade down faster than the eye can adjust, and it's quiet - Sayaka's laughter died down to harried breathes, likely as exhausted as Ven himself is emotionally.

As everything plunges into full black and his connection to Sayaka's dream breaks apart, the mysterious bystander girl's voice is all that can be heard -

"Stop... Please, stop..."

The voice of the girl continued ringing in his mind s the scene went black. It was only when he was fully out of the dream that the girl's voice finally resigned to just an echo in his memory, and his eyes quickly flew open.

He sat up, letting out a breath that he hadn't even been aware he was holding. The blades of light were gone of course, and the colors had been restored to the world, so that was a comfort.

He breathed heavily until it was even again, staring into space in a daze as he thought about what the hell had just happened, Sayaka's mad laughing still irritating the back of his head.

He glanced at Sayaka, still asleep. He ended up staring for a moment or so, before he swallowed a gulp and realized how tense he still was from the experience.

He'd...sort it out later. Right now, Ven stood up, grabbed his fallen keyblade (though it would never stray far from his side) and took off.

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DREAM A LITTLE DREAM WITH ME

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