[Day: November 20. Time: Sometime when people are asleep!] [Luana is sitting in the middle of a large bedroom, which is fairly boring-looking. Well, except for the ring of fire around the edges, but that was expected, right? Luckily, it's a dream, so there's no reason to panic too much.] [Mini start!] * Keiko ghosts into being again, seeming to form at the edges of the visible dream. The flames don't touch her ghostly blue dress, or equally ghostly black hair. She says softly, "Luana..." * Luana puts one last flower in a vase sitting in front of her. She looks up brightly when she hears Keiko's voice. "Keiko, it's been ages! I think... weeks, it's been weeks. I was worried that you'd burned after all." * Keiko chuckles a little and opens her arms wide. "I told you I would not. Let me in, again?" Yeah, sure. * Keiko takes a step forward and solidifies from her ghostly form. * Luana stands up and hands Keiko the vase with a smile. "Here! I made more flowers." * Keiko takes the vase in both hands and looks down at them. Any specific sort of flowers? (The same kind she made for Luana last time, which I have difficulty spelling.) (Crysanthamums) Do you like them? I thought I'd decorate a little. * Keiko blinks, and then runs her finger gently over them, saying the word, 'Kiku,' quietly, in Japanese. Then she looks over to Luana and explains, "The Japanese word for Chrysanthemum. Yes, I do." A pause, then, "They... aren't such good decorations, though. Well, for Japanese people. I dunno about other people." Why not? * Keiko plays with the petals of the flour a little bit more, then says, "They're a symbol for death." A weak smile. "We have a lot of symbols for death." (s/flour/flower.) * Luana frowns, and all the flowers start to burn. She sighs. "So much for that, then..." * Keiko is silent a moment, then says, "What country are you from?" (Are the ones in my vase burning?) (Yep.) * Keiko then looks down at her flowers, sees them burning, and then suddenly the fire is gone, and they look untouched. Germany. I work for Blitzkrieg, they're absolutely wonderful people. * Luana laughs when she sees the flowers stop burning, but doesn't say anything about it. * Keiko makes a face and says quickly, "Not that wonderful, but I meant before..." she shakes her head, then looks back to her. "You don't have to not like them, you know." She makes a white chrysanthemum appear in front of the vase, and float over to her. She asks, quietly, a moment later, "What's your favorite color?" What do you mean? They're everything to me. They saved me... um, blue. * Keiko turns the flower into a deep, beautiful blue flower. "Like this?" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Flower , oddly enough.) * Luana laughs again and takes the flower. "Thank you! This is lovely! Do these grow in Japan too?" * Keiko nods slightly. "Some places, yeah." Beat, then, "I mean... you can grow flowers lots of places, I'm pretty sure." Oh, hey! As a special treat, I want to take you somewhere. The twins aren't home, but I can show you their room, if you want! * Keiko puts the vase in one hand and nods. "Ah.. sure. Let's see their room." * Luana grins at her and hurries over to the door. When she opens it, it's like the room and the hallway outside don't even touch - although the hallways is full of flames, it doesn't try to eat up the bedroom's oxygen. Luana heads out into the flames, mindless of the heat. * Keiko looks after her a moment, and then she walks through. However, instead of not caring about the heat, the flames seem to bend around her, slightly, so as to never touch her. She follows after Luana. * Luana goes into another bedroom at the opposite end of the hall. It's even larger than the one she calls her 'safe place', and as she walks inside, the flames disappear except for a ring around the edges of the room. Half is covered with posters of male teen actors and singers and has clothes all over the floor. The other half is neat and tidy, except for the bed, which isn't made. Tada! What do you think? * Keiko follows in after her, and looks around. The posters get a glance and then she looks away from them, to the other side. "Two girls live here? When they are here?" No no, one's a girl and one's a boy. I took them to a friend's house before everything started burning, so they're safe. * Keiko aahs, and says, "Nice of you, Luana." Beat, then, "Do you remember what happens... on the outside?" What, right now? * Keiko nods a little. "Yeah." Beat, then, more quietly, "I'm just... trying to figure this out, Luana. Figure... you out." * Luana blinks. "I always thought I was pretty simple. Anyway, the outside, I guess... you can probably still see the house burning? Or do you mean when I'm awake?" * Keiko starts to shake her head, then nods. "Yes. When you're awake." She holds the vase in front of her again. I work for Blitzkrieg, don't I? I'm special, so I have to use my abilities to help people. You can put that down, if you like. * Keiko carefully puts the vase down on a dresser, as she says, "But the only person you've helped so far is... me. Isn't it?" * Luana frowns and scrunches up her face a bit. "I guess so. But that's just because I need more training, right?" She looks honestly worried. "I'm still useful to the organization, aren't I?" * Keiko quickly appears next to her and reaches out to touch her shoulder. "If you weren't, they would... let you know." * Luana smiles brilliantly at her. "You're right! Dr. Kerner is such a wonderful man. And I'm friends with my one of my teammates, and I think I'm friends with my roommate too. " * Keiko lets go of her shoulder. "Well, she does like... computers. And so do you." She licks her lips a moment, then bites her lip and is silent. That's true! She's a goddess, did you know that? I guess you have to like something if you're the goddess for it. * Keiko exhales upwards and says, with a note of exasperation, "She doesn't feel like a goddess." She then looks to Luana's eyes and, after a moment, asks, "Do you remember saying you'd teach me how to drive?" * Luana looks confused. "I said I'd teach... Keiko how to drive..." She shakes her head. "Yeah, I can teach you! I can show you how to drive my motorcycle, or we can borrow my parents' car. They're busy dying, they won't care." * Keiko blinks, then says, quietly, "You still don't seem bothered by that." She gestures outward, as if to say 'let's learn', but doesn't speak up. Well, it's easier to deal with now that I can't hear them screaming at each other. Come on, the car's in the driveway outside. * Keiko nods slowly and says, "Lead me there." * Luana heads out and down a nearby flight of stairs. What can be seen of the house past all the flames is slightly expensive and very tastefully decorated, with very little actual personality involved in the decorating. [Luana exits through the front door and gets into an old blue car that's sitting in the driveway from the driver's side. "Get in the passenger seat and watch me do it first, okay?" ] (.....I hate myself sometimes. Why did I use brackets!?) (Ha ha. Happens.) * Keiko walks over to the passenger door, which just opens of its own accord. She follows into the passenger seat and it closes behind her. * Luana holds out her hand, and a set of keys appear in it. "Okay, first, you should always buckle your seatbelt and lock the doors, but since this is just a dream, it doesn't really matter." * Luana turns on the car and explains what she's doing as she does it, then backs out of the driveway and starts driving down the street. The houses fade, and soon they're just driving in the dark. * Keiko laughs a little and nods. "Of course." She listens to the explaination, and lets Luana go as she does. Once they're out of the city she says, "Awful dark out here. Wouldn't it be better if we could see?" There's nothing to see out this far, that's all. * Keiko nods slightly, and then after a moment road starts to form in front of them. And a snowy landscape, to either side of the road. It's a very isolated road, and it doesn't look like there's anything but snow, trees, and road. Hey, pretty! Are we in Japan now? * Keiko shakes her head. "No." A moment, then, "Somewhere else. Made of memorystuff." * Luana nods and slows down. "Your turn." She eventually stops and gets out of the car, going to the passenger seat. "And don't forget to release the emergency break, or you'll screw up the car." * Keiko climbs over to the driver seat without getting out. Or messing up her dress. She is silent a moment, then she undoes the emergency break, starts the car, and starts driving. Easily. Heading straight down the endless winter road. You might want to make a few turns to practice on, and maybe parking. * Luana closes her eyes. "It's nice to be out of the safe place. I'm too scared to do it without you around." * Keiko nods a little and murmurs, "Yes." The road up ahead curves. AFter a moment she says quietly, "I can do anything out here, you know. Once you let me in, anyway." Of course you can. It's just a dream. * Keiko laughs faintly and takes the turn. "If you know that, why don't you go outside?" There are rules. I need rules. I can't function without them. * Keiko makes another turn, and takes it. After a moment she says, "But I'm a rulebreaker." So I can break your rules. Yes? ( That could get ugly. Keiko is weak to melee D: ) You're not breaking them, you're just sort of... temporarily rewriting them. Everything's the same again once you're gone. * Keiko is silent a long moment, and some more driving, then, "I could try rewriting them. Some other dream." Sure. You're welcome here whenever you like. * Keiko nods slightly, then, "Is there someplace... you want to go? While I'm here?" * Luana yawns. "I'd kind of like to see the twins again... but they're safer without me..." (In answering that, Brett has offered to play NPCs of a sort.) (Base NPCs.) (So you could answer that way. ;) (She doesn't connect between her real life and her dreams that well.) (Like how she doesn't quite recognize Keiko.) (I'd noticed! Just saying.) How about where you're from? Can I see that? * Keiko is silent a moment, then, "I can show you Kyoto. That... that's close enough." Sounds interesting, okay. How many languages do you know? * Keiko says idly, "Four, five...It's not really hard to learn languages." And then Keiko slows as the landscape shifts. Forests turn into buildings, tall buildings. People appear walking across streets, down. She slows to a stop, parking as people and buildings and everything keeps forming in. She closes her eyes once they're stopped. And lets the city, or how she remembers the city, form around them. * Luana looks around in wonder. "I only know... three... -wow-. You're making people!" * Keiko says quietly, "People are usually boring. You can make a lot of them if you want." * Keiko reopens her eyes and adds, still quiet, "Interesting people..." and she trails off before saying in a more normal voice, "First stop, Kyoto... everybody out." * Luana gets out and looks around, smiling widely. "The city's amazing! Everything's in another language, look!" * Keiko gets out too and smiles very slightly. "I know. It's Japanese. It's spring, now." She looks up at the sky. "A warm spring." * Luana points at something at random. "What does that say?" ("I don't know. It's a dream.") (You are absolutely right. Too bad Keiko isn't actually dreaming.) (Is this where I point out that I can, and often do read in my dreams?) * Keiko looks at something at random! She frowns a moment, and then, "Hitomi Mimasaka presents, 'Kirby's Adventure Movie Seventeen: Stolen Cakewands.'" * Keiko glances over to Luana and adds, "I think. It's been a long time." ( Yeah, they're up to at least #36 by now. ) (Gryph: You think you read in your dreams. It's possible to look at a word and interpret it because you "know" what it should mean, but if you really look and try to sort out the characters or verify, you'll find it gibberish.) (Ard is correct.) (It's a good way to know you're lucid dreaming! I used it on my watch, usually.) (When it is H,<3[ time, you know something is wrong.) * Luana rubs at her eyes, and the world fades a bit before refocusing. "I think I'm waking up, or switching sleep cycles. Can we do more of this the next time I'm dreaming?" (XD) * Keiko is silent a moment, then, "Maybe. If you're switching cycles... I may have been here too long." * Luana waves cheerfully as everything starts flowly slowing and fading. "See you next time, then! You know where to find me." (Trying to really read in dreams usually ends with me freaking out and waking up. ;P I'm not good at going, "This is neat! I'm dreaming and can control it!" I tend to go "OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS BROKEN RUN RUN RUN") (Heh, it usualy ends with my dreams switching formats on me, I've had several that have passed through IRC log stages.) * Keiko nods and replies, "Enjoy the flower..." before she seperates into her astral form and being in Luana and Ten's room. (I usually try to wake up if I realize I'm dreaming. When I was little, I figured out that if I could manage to scream in real life, the noise would wake me up. Scared my parents a few times. ^^;) ( My dreams are usually interesting enough so that I don't have time to read >.> ) (I've had to consciously learn to lucid dream.) (You're just that special, Brett. ;P) [End!]