★ my genius, flawless idol for life

[liedol]

⭐ Who: Ai and you!
⭐ When: its fucking dember
⭐ Where: Mostly in Yumemigaoka, with some planned Hunts and stuff in the Dream Sphere
⭐ What: Wow, that was pretty decidedly awful!!! Unfortunately, there's no rest for the wicked OR the DU's idol so even though she's a little running on fumes, Ai's still got a busy December ahead of her...! With DU work and idol work and holiday obligations all on her plate, the real question is: how does she ever find time to sleep???

Comments

[predecir]

[Bruno keeps his distance, as much for caution as secrecy. Even a decade later, his muscle memory always anticipates Pepa in a fight - lightning and hail, wild and difficult to control. He and Juli got zapped a lot as kids. So he doesn't have to skitter backwards out of star-range, even if a lot of his little rat constructs shatter into ice shards and curling wisps of shadow.

She's a good fighter. Probably could've handled this. But that doesn't mean he's just gonna turn tail and flee. Green light flickers for a moment in the depths of his hood.]

On your left!

[He's already summoning a group of heavier rat-shadows to try and soak that hit.]

[liedol]

[ She lifts her gaze just in time to see the Torment close in and get beaten back by... there's no way these are rats, right? She'll tell herself they're not. Anyway, focus...!

She follows through with a blow from her Sandglass once there's a break in the shadows, hard enough that the Torment skids back before being shattered apart under the impact of another star. The starfall has cleared by now — she'd taken out a decent number of them that were left after the wave of definitely not rats and the stragglers are starting to look a little uncertain about pushing their luck here. But of course, she can't just let them go wandering. ]

One last push!

[ She calls that to the mystery Dreamer still observing from a distance before wading back into the fray with her staff. ]

[predecir]

On it!

[Communication's important in a fight! Omen calls up another wave of totally-not-rats to replace the first, directing them to flank the remaining Torments. It's pretty easy to see the flow of the battle from farther back!]

[liedol]

[ With the Torments hemmed in, it's that much easier for Ai-Doll to take them out directly with her staff. A few of them try to skitter away and get swept up in the tide of shadows and the ones that stray towards her, either to flee or to attack, get dashed apart. She's not usually a fighter on the front lines, at least not anymore, but she's still sharp enough that with a little backup, she can handle a round of Torments like this.

The final one shatters apart and she takes a second to catch her breath and make sure there aren't any others lurking. There's nothing but the wave of shadows so Ai-Doll allows herself to relax and adjusts her face into a smile as she calls out. ]

We're all clear, I think!

[predecir]

Good, good!

[Omen hovers where he is for a moment - either looming ominously or just sort of hesitating, hard to tell - but eventually starts to approach. She seems fine, but...never hurts to check, right? It'd be rude to just run off.]

Are you okay?

[liedol]

Mm, I'm fine! Not a scratch on me.

[ She says that a little too quickly and a little too cheerily — even if it's true — as she starts to approach in turn, somehow not skidding on the ice even at the steady speed she's going. In heels. Idols, man. ]

You're okay too, aren't you? You were a little further out but...

[ don't mind her. she's coming to be Nosy. ]

[predecir]

Oh - yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm fine!

[Bruno waves a hand to dismiss the swarm of not-rats, and...

......

...........

it's an awkward silence now!]

[liedol]

[ Awkward silence indeed, because Ai-Doll's squinting up (and up and up...) at him in a puzzled sort of way. She's transparently trying to put a name to his face (because there's no way she could forget anyone with a Dreamer form this, uh, memorable) but realizes after a good amount of rattling her brain: ]

Oh...! You've never been to this part of the Dream Sphere before, have you? Are you new to Yumemigaoka, maybe?

[ and of course she immediately engages Personal Question Time. like i said, she's nosy. ]

[predecir]

Uh - yeah! Yes.

[Ah, right, time to be ~Mysterious~]

I am Dreamer Omen. [he's putting on a voice]

[liedol]

I see...! That explains why I've never heard of you before.

[ She's......... taking it completely in stride! Between celebs, idols and Dreamers, she's talked to a lot of people who have a gimmick, is all. This is a day ending in Y, when you get down to it. ]

Well, I don't know about omens but you were definitely a good look charm for me today. [ wink! ] So thank you.

[predecir]

Ha!

[He lets out a sharp burst of laughter, then snaps his mouth shut abruptly.]

I, uh. I don't get that often. Glad to help, though...?

[liedol]

Oh, don't you? Aah, let me guess... you're more of a solo Dreamer, then? You're not in a Unit or anything? I guess it makes sense if you only just got here...

[ I—it's a little like a polite interrogation... ]

[predecir]

Yeah. It's - it's fine, though. I've been solo for a while.

[The last thing he needs is someone trying to set him up with a Unit! Even if the idea does sound nice. But...he shouldn't, really. The risk seems a lot slighter here, but it's still risk.

(That, and...working with a different Unit? It feels a little like a betrayal.)]

[liedol]

I guess you do seem pretty self-sufficient...! There was the whole...

[ ... vague hand gesture. She does not want to think about the rats!!! ]

Shadow wave attack...? It seems like you could cover a lot of ground with that, even by yourself. Let me guess... you're a Striker, then?

[predecir]

Uh - oh, no, I just -

[Well. ~*Dreamer Omen*~ (with the spooky voice) probably ought to be, right?]

I started before any of those terms took off.

[liedol]

You did?

[ She sounds a little aghast. She's met Dreamers from before and around the DU's founding of course, but someone from that early on? That's a rare find. Now she's even more interested. ]

I guess it makes sense if you're from pretty far out from Yumemigaoka... but it's really wild to meet someone with no connection to the DU at all...

[ h—her eyes.... are sparkling at him........... ]

[predecir]

Eh, yeah. It's not that big a deal.

[He shrugs a little. It's not an Omen persona thing, really; Bruno is just so accustomed to being uninvolved with the DU that it doesn't really seem interesting to him at all. Maybe the kids would feel different. It's been too long since he really talked to any of them.]

Even when they did open it, it wasn't such a big deal right away. Not so international.

[liedol]

I guess it must've started pretty small at some point but it's really hard to imagine... [ Then, with a wry smile: ] Then again, it's also really hard to imagine that it's as big and as international as it's gotten... So make my sense of scale's just off!

[ She laughs at her own joke............ ]

Either way...! You should definitely drop by the DU anytime you're feeling up to it. It's always nice to see new faces around.

[predecir]

I don't know too much about how it was back then, I guess. It was really far away...

[By the time it felt like something that existed in their part of the world...well, Bruno was already retreating from it.]

Oh, um. Yeah. Maybe.

[It's not convincing!]