When Theater Kids Attack

[thestarknows]

⭐ Who: Junna Hoshimi... and you!
⭐ When: Late August and throughout September!
⭐ Where: Some prompts in Yumemigaoka and the Dream Sphere!
⭐ What: September catchall for Junna! I'll add top levels as the month goes (and September info posts go up), but I'm putting up a couple of open prompts to get things started for Junna. Please hit me up on Discord if you have any questions!

Comments

Reflection Glades, late August [OPEN]

[thestarknows]

[Dreamer Sage is still a novice. Still new to this. But she has to help with patrols, because being a Dreamer -- and a good Dreamer! -- is why she is.

And so, she is out in the Reflection Glades. She has her bow stowed over her back, her eyes scanning across the horizon. It's pleasant out here. There's brilliantly colored flowers all around, and it's the sort of thing that takes her breath away. But... focus! She keeps walking, eyes scanning around.

She stops as she finds a Figment, kneeling down to peer at it.

No Torments in sight. They're supposed to come here, sometimes, in search of the Figments. But, right now, she's looking at floating cluster of crystals -- colored and gleaming like a pale rainbow -- and she extends a finger out, poking it.]

[hanamane]

[The Reflection Glades wasn't really a place Hanako liked to drop into often-- sure, it's pretty and peaceful and all, but compared to the other locations, it lacked the sort of teeth that kept him occupied. It was a nice place for Novices, for sure, but he'd long since graduated from that sort of thing... plus he saw enough flowers in his day-to-day life that he craved something a bit different by the time he hopped into the Dream Sphere.

... that all said, with the whole Stabilizing weirdness over the past month, he couldn't help but check in on the place regardless, to make sure it wasn't going out of whack like everything else lately. So far, everything looked about as normal as it could be, which was good... although he can't help but pause when he spots an unfamiliar Dreamer in the distance, kneeling in front of a Figment. Hm... it HAS been a while since he's bothered somebody new...

Quietly, he floats on over towards Sage's direction, being careful not to make a sound until he's right behind her, peering over her shoulder to get a better look at what she was doing.]

... you sure you should be doing that? Pretty sure those are people's souls, y'know.

[Not that he's one to talk about Dream Sphere ethics when he thrives on trying to jumpscare people here but shhhh]

[thestarknows]

[Junna looks up as she hears a voice -- and her cheeks redden with embarrassment as she realizes Hanako is right. She stands up, does a short bow, and shakes her head.]

I'm very sorry! I hadn't thought that through. I--

[The Figment floats away. Junna sighs, dusting off and smoothing out her skirt.]

I've never seen one before, up close.

[hanamane]

[Awwww, booo, he didn't manage to scare her-- maybe he was starting to lose his touch? Or perhaps this girl was made of tougher stuff than he thought...

Regardless, he props his chin upon his hand, casually watching the Figment drift off before giving Juuna an amicable enough smile.]

Yeah, they're pretty cool, aren't they? Weird to think we used to be these things here before we Awakened, huh?

[He kicks his feet a little idly in the air, and it almost seems like he may have glossed over the whole Figment poking thing entirely, until:]

They look kinda fragile, though, so you probably should be careful around them, just in case. It wouldn't look good for a Dreamer to accidentally mess with some random person's memories just because they were curious!

[YOU DIDN'T QUITE NEED TO TACK ON THAT LAST PART, HANAKO, SHE ALREADY APOLOGIZED...]

[thestarknows]

[Cool... or embarrassment won out over everything else in the end?

She hesitates for a moment; then, Junna smiles a little, too, and looks after the Figment. He's right, she realizes. She was once a Figment, just like that. She glances after it, then looks back at him.]

It is a little weird. Though... I don't know. Maybe Dreamers are the weird ones, just by virtue of being different.

[Then there's a little twitch and a jerk at the last bit.]

Th--that can't happen.

...can it?

[hanamane]

Hmmm... I dunno! [INCREDIBLY HELPFUL ANSWER THERE, HANAKO] I've heard weird things happen to people if Nightmares get to their Figments, so it might not be too far off the mark to think the same could happen with a Dreamer, instead. Probably good to leave them alone, in any case!

[Odd for him to be sounding like the responsible one for once, but there were a few things he didn't dare mess around with here, and Figments were one of them.

... not that he thought she had been doing anything wrong intentionally or anything like that, though! He peers over towards Juuna, curiously enough, chin still propped upon his hand.]

So... you're a newbie, then? I don't think I've seen you around here before now.

[Granted, the Dream Sphere was vast, and obviously Hanako hadn't met EVERY Dreamer crawling around it's spaces (and for all he knew, she could just frequent this particular spot), but he's fairly sure he hadn't seen her around in his travels.]

[thestarknows]

[She opens her mouth, as if to say "but you're the expert," except... well, he did say to not do it. He seems to be the responsible one. Junna hesitates a moment, but then she nods. It's a good point.

This isn't the sort of thing to do science experiments with.]

I'll leave them alone. Thank you for telling me.

[There is a moment's hesitation at his next question. The part of her that worries about being seen as incapable, as a burden, as not keeping up is very loud inside her head for a moment. Did she make a mistake that gave her away as a newcomer to this?

But... no. Dreamers would know each other; they would see each other around the Dream Sphere. And she is a newcomer.

So, after a moment, Junna nods.]

I am. I transferred here recently. I'm... still getting used to all of this.

[hanamane]

[Oh, if Junna thought Hanako was any sort of expert or responsible person within the Dream Sphere, she was going to be sorely disappointed. He may have already graduated to Experienced rank, but he'd only been at this for about a year and a half at best-- nowhere near enough time to get him accustomed to all the weird idiosyncrasies that came with dealing with this place. But he sure liked to sound like knew what he was talking about!!

At Junna's nod, though, he kicks his feet in the air a little more excitedly, seemingly thrilled that he was able to spot fresh meat a Novice right off the bat.]

Ooooh, is that so? Do you need someone to help show you the ropes around here, then? I may not look it, but I got lots of experience! [Well... experience fighting, maybe--] I even helped Stabilize a few places around here recently, too!

[thestarknows]

[Junna blinks her eyes once at the offer. (She does, genuinely, think he is an expert. And experienced!) She nods, quickly, then, because this is...

This is perfect.

She's been trying to figure this out on her own, and that's a recipe for disaster. Junna knows it's a matter of time until she gets herself into some sort of trouble that she can't get out of on her own. But with someone to guide her...]

Would you? I... ah... I admit, I could really use the help.

[This is hard for her to admit.]

[hanamane]

[Well now! He didn't think she'd accept his offer so readily-- but then, he wasn't exactly going to complain about it, either. Rhodonite was sort of stubborn about figuring out stuff on her own, and Prisma... she'd probably be more receptive to his help if he didn't tease her as much as he did, so having someone unflinchingly accept his assistance was a nice change of pace.

He beams cheerfully in her direction, his mood clearly brighter now that he had someone new to pester guide around the place.]

Sure! People don't get good at this stuff immediately off the bat, after all. That's why it's good to have someone around to help you practice when we got downtime like this!

[Granted, he should take his own lessons to heart at times, but-- do as he says, not what he does]

Soooo... whatcha having trouble with? Abilities? Fighting stuff?

[thestarknows]

[Oh. Oh, God. Where does she start?

Junna hesitates for a moment -- then she nods, as she considers this, and... starts to go over the assessment of her abilities that she updates after each outing. There is a spreadsheet. There are grades on different categories.

Mercifully, she doesn't just provide this to him.]

Fighting is the biggest one. I... never was in a fight, until I became a Dreamer. I also haven't developed my abilities much yet, either, but... I feel a little more comfortable with those.